Summer In Alaska
by ZanyIzzy
Summary: Basically, six of the digi destined go on an Alaskin cruise for Mimi's 17th birthday! Is romance fated on the high seas? Secret notes and late nights! T for slight swearing and sexual inuendos...and slight drinking. OC x Izzy, Michi, REVIEW plz!
1. Day 1: Thursday

**WARNING: ****If you do not like OCs paired with characters from the show, please don't read this!**

**I do not own anything to do with Digimon, any of it's characters or plot lines. I also don't own any brand names or songs and anything of the like in this story.**

Digimon Adventure 02 – Summer in Alaska

Day One

"Skyy! Get up! You'll have to leave soon!"

Skyy's dad's voice rang from across the small apartment and into Skyy's bedroom. Skyy groaned and rolled over in her bed. She rubbed her eyes awake and gazed at the cream ceiling, her eyes rolled over to her fan in the middle of the ceiling. It was turning and making a low humming noise. She watched for a couple seconds before she pulled herself up and swung her legs over the side of the bed so they met the cool wooden floor. She wandered off into the bathroom as Umimon and Oomomon yawned over from their makeshift bed.

Umimon liked to curl up in a blanket on Skyy's pink, plastic computer chair. It was an odd place for a bed, but Umimon insisted it was hers because it was the place she first slept in when she had met Skyy for the first time a couple of years ago. Oomomon just slept with her because he insisted it looked more comfortable then having to sleep on the floor (he refused to sleep with Skyy).

Umimon, usually in the form of Pleomon, was Skyy's partner digimon. Unlike the other digidestined, Skyy had only found out she was a chosen child when she moved back to Tokyo a couple of years ago. Izzy had tracked her down and wouldn't give up until she finally agreed to join the team. That and having a weird white and orange digimon follow you around also made Skyy give in. At first she had shunned Pleomon, but eventually became best friends with her digimon. In the real world, Pleomon usually took the form of her In-Training level, which was Umimon, but Skyy always called her "Pleo" no matter what level her partner was at. Umimon always liked it that way.

Oomomon usually in the form of Kotamamon, was Skyy's sister, Yuki's, digimon. Since Yuki had passed away many years ago Oomomon sometimes visited Skyy in the real world. He never visited as much as Umimon did though. He was a little touchy around Skyy because she looked exactly like her twin Yuki, despite having longer hair. Even though Skyy knew of his uneasiness around her, that didn't stop her from acting like he was a close friend. She always called him "Kota" no matter what form he was in. He would always snap back his real name angrily and say she was troublesome for giving him silly nick-names. Skyy would usually just ignore him and keep calling him "Kota".

Skyy glanced at the clock in the hall as she made her way to the bathroom. It read 7:13. Tai was supposed to come pick her up around 8:00. She still had plenty of time to get ready and pack the last minuet essentials into her suitcase.

Skyy was going on a cruise with 5 other of her digidestined friends. It was for Mimi's 17th birthday. Mimi had been given 6 tickets for an Alaskan cruise for her birthday from her parents saying she could invite whoever she wanted. It took a while to decide but she ended up inviting Skyy, Tai, Sora, Matt, and Izzy.

Mimi was completely torn on who she was going to invite, not wanting to make others feel bad if they were not invited. But it all ended well because TK was considered too young to be going out of the country without parent supervision. Kari had her first job as a camp counsellor and refused to take time off of her job. Davis refused to go if Kari wasn't going. Joe was doing an apprenticeship program at a Hospital linked with the University he was attending. This was a big opportunity for him so he did not want to miss any of it. Ken and Yolie were going to China to meet Ken's extended family (new girlfriend and all…). Apparently with Ken his whole family needs to meet his girlfriend, even the ones he hadn't seen since he was 3. And finally, Cody was also considered too young to go by his mother and grandfather.

This left Mimi with exactly five who could go, which was perfect. It was a little sudden actually. Since Mimi lived in New York, Skyy didn't know why she'd invite her friends from Japan. But they were supposed to meet the pink-haired beauty in Seattle, where the ship was departing from.

After Skyy had freshened up she got dressed in a green tank top with a frilly short white skirt and black knee leggings underneath. She let her blonde hair fall down around her face, not bothering to do anything special with it. After Skyy packed the last few things into her suitcase Umimon was completely awake and bounced on top of the suitcase.

"I'm gonna miss you Skyy!" Umimon said sadly. Skyy ruffled the top of Umimon's head. She smiled.

"Don't worry, it's only for a week, plus I don't think we'd get away with bringing digimon through customs at the airport," Skyy sighed. Umimon's lower lip jutted out.

"Jeez, I can't wait for her to leave, she's so bothersome…" Oomomon muttered from the window. He liked to stare out of Skyy's glass sliding doors a lot. Umimon glared at Oomomon and stuck her tongue out at his back.

The both of them were to go back to the Digital World whilst Skyy was on vacation. Usually all the digimon stayed in the Digital World because it was their home, but Umimon was attached to Skyy so much she often stayed in the real world for long amounts of time. Oomomon didn't care about going back, in fact he probably enjoyed leaving Skyy more than going to visit her. But he was always drawn to her because of her connection with Yuki which made him visit in the first place.

"I'll bring my digivice anyway, just in case," Skyy said ignoring Oomomon and showing Umimon her small white digivice. All of the original digisdestined had this model, except for Kari and TK. Skyy's had fallen from the sky along with all the others that day at camp so many years ago. But because she had moved, going to camp was cancelled. Her digivice had shown up, but she wasn't there to claim it. Izzy had taken it and had used it to find her ever since. Until finally she had moved back and he gave it to her after realizing she was the missing original. Skyy gazed at the small digivice, her mind flooding with memories. She was the crest of Life. Her crest had saved her when she had been in the hospital with her leukemia. Izzy was there, Tai, Sora, and everyone had supported her. She had been in remission for 3 years now, one more year and she was officially cured. The whole fiasco three years prior seemed so long ago now.

_**DING DONG**_

Skyy shook her head to get rid of the memories. It was 8:00 and Tai was right on time, for once. She rushed over to her computer, turned it on and opened a gate to the digital world for Umimon. She grabbed her camera which was in its case and clipped it on the other side of her belt. Skyy was just as crazy with her camera as Kari was with hers. She would take pictures of everything and always seemed to have it with her so if a picture opportunity came along, she could take it. Skyy had a least 6 photo albums filled to the brim with photos she had started taking 3 years ago. Since she was going on vacation with only her friends, she knew this would be one of the golden times for taking stupid and silly pictures.

Skyy heard her dad open the front door and Tai's cheery voice ringing out.

"Hi, Mr. Tsutsumi! Is Skyy ready to go?" but before Skyy's dad could reply Skyy yelled:

"I'm ready! Tai be a man and help me carry this thing!" Skyy heard Tai's shuffling feet as he excused himself and made his way over to her bedroom. She poked her head out just as Tai rounded the corner into her bedroom.

"Hey what's up? Big suitcase much?" Tai asked once he got a look at her luggage. Tai grabbed the handle of her suitcase and lifted it up. Skyy rolled her eyes.

"puh-leez! I'm a girl and this is pretty light for me," Skyy said shrugging, she clipped her digivice, which was still in her hand, to her belt and gave Umimon a quick hug goodbye before she disappeared into the computer with Oomomon. Skyy slung her brown bag over her shoulder and the hordes of key chains linked on all rattled around. It was a simple over the shoulder bag and Skyy had decorated it with millions of key chains she had collected over the years. She didn't have much inside it though. Tai grunted a little has he carried the suitcase to the front door, where he then lifted the handle and began rolling it instead.

"Thanks so much dude!" Skyy said and patted Tai on the back. Skyy slid out her camera just in time to take a quick picture of Tai grinning and sticking out his tongue at her. He chuckled as Skyy put her camera back in its case after admiring her latest picture memory.

"C'mon! My mom is waiting downstairs," Tai said. Skyy kissed her parents goodbye and they wished her well. She rushed out of the apartment to follow Tai down the hall. Tai lived only a few apartments down from her on the same floor. It was decided Tai would take her to the airport because Skyy's parents didn't have a car and he lived the closest. They were going to meet the others at the airport.

Once they got to the elevator they rode down to the parking lot and met Tai's mom in her car. The car ride wasn't really that long; after all, Tokyo airport wasn't that far away. The teens talked part of the way, then sleep got the best of them and they dozed off in the back seat. Before Skyy knew it Tai was shaking her awake.

"Hey! Wake up sleeping beauty, man you are hard to wake up! You're like a friggen android" Tai teased. Skyy grumbled at the disturbance and muttered a low "shut up" to Tai's comment. Nonetheless she got out of the car and took out her suitcase from the trunk. Once Tai's mom said her goodbye's and drove away, they started looking for their friends. Skyy immediately saw Sora's flaming red hair and pointed in her direction.

"There's fire!" she exclaimed. Tai turned to the direction her finger was pointing.

"Where! Wh— Sora!" Tai ran for the doors towards Sora who was inside. Skyy grinned and followed after. She glanced around Sora, noticing Matt was with her, but not seeing Izzy anywhere. Tai practically attacked Sora and Matt with hugs like he hadn't seen them in a billion years. Skyy walked up behind him and Sora's face lit up.

"Skyy! Finally you're here!" Sora squealed, giving Skyy a friendly hug. Skyy laughed. She grabbed her digital camera in a split second and held it up.

"Say cheese you two!" Skyy clicked the camera just as Matt and Sora quickly got in a picture pose. Sora sighed.

"Oh noo! You're bringing your camera?"

"Of course I am!" Skyy said grinning. Sora rolled her eyes.

"This means your going to be taking pictures of absolutely **everything** isn't it?"

Skyy grinned evilly, "**Every**thing!" Sora sighed and shook her head. Skyy glanced around again as she turned off her camera.

"Yeah, hey Sora...so um…isn't Izzy here yet?" Skyy asked, trying not to sound eager. Sora raised her eyebrows and Tai nudged Skyy's side lightly, grinning from ear to ear.

"No, not yet," she answered.

"He said he was going to be a little late," Matt said, his fingertips were lightly touching the small of Sora's back.

"Oh, ok…" Skyy shrugged it off, hiding her disappointment.

"Aww, too bad Skyy, I bet you were really looking forward to— ouch!" Tai yelped as Skyy dug her heel into his foot. Matt and Sora gave them odd looks.

"Izzy said to go on ahead to the gate" Sora said, Skyy nodded after giving Tai a warning glare. The four of them checked in their suitcases, got their tickets and headed for customs. Skyy and Sora spotted a good looking police officer as they were going through customs. Skyy decided to walk over ask him if she could take his picture because she thought he was hot. He laughed and said O.K. after Skyy walked back, Sora told her to give her a copy of the picture. Both girls giggled and received odd looks from Tai and Matt who didn't realize what just happened. They went through the rest of the customs very smoothly and quickly, though some old man showed an interest in Skyy's digivice and didn't believe her when she said it was just an MP3 player. She quickly said she was late for her plane and high-tailed it away from him. On their way they passed a Cheesecake Factory in the shopping area. Skyy's eyes lingered on the people eating inside.

"Ohh…cheesecaaaake," Skyy sighed.

"Maaan…you read my mind," Tai said beside her. Sora, who was walking in front of them, looked back.

"What? You guys want cheesecake? It's still morning!" Sora chuckled. Skyy pouted.

"But we want soooome, you know you want it tooo," Skyy urged. Sora smiled.

"Fine, when Izzy gets here we'll go out for some cheesecake before the plane leaves," Sora said winking and turning back around. Tai and Skyy had stars in their eyes and they cheered loudly, causing some people to give them weird looks.

"What time does the plane leave?" Skyy asked anyone who would answer. Tai was the one who answered, glancing at his ticket.

"Uhhh, 10:35"

"Oh yay! That means we still have plenty of time!" Skyy cheered again, "we get cheesecake, we get cheesecake!"

Tai high-fived her and Matt and Sora chuckled in front of them. When the four finally found the gate they quickly grabbed some seats to wait for their late friend.

Skyy hadn't brought much to entertain herself, mostly relying on chatting with her friends. She only brought her I-pod, a sketchbook and pencils for drawing.

Skyy took out her I-pod and set it to shuffle. It stopped on 'Supermassive Black Hole' by an American band called Muse. She may have been Japanese, but she loved American music. Also, since she had lived in Canada for 3 years, she could understand the words in the songs. Skyy and Mimi were the only ones who knew English; Izzy knew a little bit too but hardly enough to carry a good conversation. Her other friends only knew the odd phrase or word that they'd throw into their own conversations sometimes, It was up to the two girls to do most of the translating for them during the cruise.

Skyy slouched in the airport chair and started humming subconsciously to the song. Her brown eyes kept scanning the gates and large hallway for a certain maroon-haired shorty. Actually, that wasn't quite right. Sure Izzy was shorter for his age, but he had gone through a little growth spurt and was at least 2 or 3 inches taller then Skyy now. A good five foot seven. He also had nice long arms and the bony hands that all guys had.

A couple songs later Skyy started to get bored. She was ignoring her friend's conversations and started to play solitaire on her I-pod. Jeez. How long was Izzy going to take? She started tapping her foot repeatedly.

Just then, as Skyy was scanning the gates for the billionth time, her favorite song came on, Magic by B.o.B., and her eyes fell on a certain someone that made her face break out into a smile. He grinned back when he saw her eyes land on him.

Izzy was wearing a long sleeved black and weight shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows. The shirt was baggy, but hugged his figure in all the right places. He had a red sweater hung over his arm with decorative black, yellow, and white paint splatters on it. He also had on some-what baggy jeans and red sneakers. His hair was its usual messy spiked style and he had his trademark yellow pineapple computer bag with his laptop inside slung over his shoulder. Skyy's stomach fluttered lightly and with her favorite song in the background, she was ready to swoon from his good looks. Her favorite song, with her favorite person. She took out her camera and took a picture of him. Izzy raised his eyebrows.

"Jeez, at least inform me when you take your pictures!" he said as he got within hearing range. Skyy smiled slyly.

"What's the fun it that?" she said innocently. Matt was the first to stand up.

"Izzy! Finally dude! We were waiting!" Matt slapped Izzy's back when he reached the small group. The slap cause Izzy to stumbled forward a little.

"Yeah, sorry, my mom was completing some errands on the way," Izzy explained, shrugging his shoulders. Skyy stood up and gave him a friendly hug, which he returned enthusiastically.

"Now that you're here we can go get some food!" Skyy broke the hug but noticed that Izzy's hand still lingered on her waist.

"You guys were waiting for me?" Izzy asked, a worried look appearing on his face. "Why didn't you just go if you were hungry?"

"We want to go to the Cheesecake Factory so we couldn't go in without you because it's a full out restaurant," Sora shrugged her shoulders.

"Yaay! Cheesecake!" Skyy and Tai cheered at the same time. Izzy grinned at the two food lovers. The five teens then got up and headed to the Cheesecake Factory restaurant they had passed earlier. Once they arrived they were seated and began scanning the menus. They all decided to just have some cake instead of a full meal because the portion sizes were all really big. The waitress finally came and took their orders and left quickly. Izzy was sitting across from Skyy, and Tai was beside her. When the cakes came in Tai greedily dug in.

"Ahh! This is soo good!" Tai said through a mouthful of some double fudgy chocolaty cheesecake.

"You pig!" Skyy teased, Tai just snorted and continued eating.

"What kind did you get?" Izzy asked from across the table. Skyy looked over to him after putting a forkful of vanilla cake in her mouth. She quickly swallowed the lump of cake, thumping her chest with her fist to make it go down faster.

"Vanilla!" she said happily after the lump had safely gone down her throat.

"Can I try some?" Izzy asked. Skyy raised her eyebrows.

"Uh, sure," she answered. She cut off a small piece of her cake and held it up for him. He took the fork, keeping his hand over hers, and brought the cake up to his mouth.

"Mmm, that's good," Izzy said after a while of chewing. Skyy smiled and looked down at his cake.

"What did you get?" she asked.

"Something with lemon citrus."

"Can **I** try some?" Skyy asked slyly. Izzy shrugged.

"Sure" he cut off a piece of his cake and held it up for her to take. "Here comes the traaaaiin!" Izzy said in a baby voice, grinning. She frowned.

"Oh come off it!" Skyy snapped. She did the same thing as him taking the fork and keeping her hand over his. The cake was actually really good, with a sweet-sour taste to it and a light mix of cheese cake flavor. Izzy laughed at her short temper but all Skyy was thinking was '_Eee! Indirect kiss with Izzy! Woot woot!'_

Skyy took out her camera again and took pictures of the cakes she liked. She took a couple pictures of her friends and the restaurant. Also some other pictures which included Tai, chocolate cake, napkins, and plenty of laughs. After, they fell back into a light conversation.

"So we're going to stay a day in Seattle tomorrow?" Sora asked.

"Yeah, we're staying in Seattle all day and boarding the ship on Saturday," Izzy said.

"What are we going to do tomorrow?" Matt inquired. Izzy shrugged.

"Anything. I hear there's a chocolate factory and a lot of retail establishments, maybe we can go shopping?" he said.

"Yeah! Sounds fun!" Sora squealed.

"To you maybe," Skyy cut in, rolling her eyes.

"Oh please! Don't tell me you wouldn't at least want to go shopping in Seattle! I mean it's **Seattle**!" Sora replied.

"Meh, I don't want to go shopping," Skyy said shrugging and scrapping the remnants of her cake off of her plate. Izzy raised an eyebrow.

"You don't like shopping? Don't girls usually like that?" he asked.

"It's ok I guess…" Skyy muttered. Sora leaned closer towards them.

"Oh please Skyy! She goes in a store and gets bored within five seconds! **I** have to shop **for** her!" Sora said dramatically.

"Hey! I don't get bored that easily!" Skyy pouted. Izzy laughed.

"Yeah right Skyy! We know you better than that! You get bored sooo easily!" Matt exclaimed pointing a finger at her.

"Well whatever! I don't do girly things," Skyy scrunched her nose a waved one of her hands. Tai smirked at her.

"That's our Skyy! What a tomboy!" Tai said wrapping an arm around her shoulders and squeezing them. Izzy looked at them a little uncomfortably, shifting in his seat. Skyy didn't notice this.

"Like I care!" Skyy snorted. Izzy quickly changed the subject.

"So! What do you think the cruise is going to be like Skyy?" Izzy asked leaning a little closer to her. Tai's arm was still lazily hanging around Skyy's shoulders but his body was turned in another conversation with Matt and Sora.

"Well I don't know, cold I guess? I've never been on a cruise before," Skyy said. Izzy turned and took out his yellow and white pineapple laptop.

"See look here, I saved some photographs of the ship we're going to be traveling on!" Izzy said, bringing up a page of pictures as soon as his laptop powered up. Skyy leaned in closer to get a better look which caused Tai's arm to slide off.

"Oh wow! It's so big!" Skyy gasped. Izzy grinned.

"Would you be surprised if I told you there were vessels more prodigious?" Izzy asked. Skyy raised her eyebrows.

"Bigger? Bigger than **that**?"

"Yeah, here are some other ships," Izzy brought up another cruise line's website, Royal Caribbean, and showed her some of their ships. Skyy was amazed, how could ships be this big? And with theatre's, ice rinks, pools, movie theatre's, and promenades all packed on one boat, it would be hard not to get lost. As Izzy talked more about the types of ships and the cruises and attractions they provided, Skyy decided to get up and just sit next to him so she could see better because she was practically laying across the table to see the pictures on the computer screen. Izzy blushed as she sat right up next to him, with her thigh touching his. Skyy could feel Izzy's arm slowly snaking around her waist in a casual way. She tried not to show any excitement in her face and actions because his touch was making her heart do the conga. Izzy showed her all the ships and even plans for future ships that were currently still under construction. This all made Skyy even more excited for the trip.

After the five teens finished the cake they headed back to their gate. With their bellies full they all were in a cheery mood. As soon as they got back to their gate people were already starting to board the plane. They quickly rushed over and got their tickets approved. Only as they were walking down the ramp did Skyy actually ask where everyone was sitting. It worked out that Tai would sit next to Skyy, with Izzy on her other side. Then Matt and Sora would sit together in front of them. Tai was a little disappointed at this but Skyy scolded him saying it was just a plane ride and it didn't matter. Though secretly, she was super happy to sit beside Izzy. Skyy suddenly got really hyper as she was seated and began playing with all the buttons and modules around her seat. The plane they were on had little TV screens on the back of every seat and Skyy kept pushing buttons and changing the volume or brightness in the screen.

Skyy loved being on planes. She had only been in one two times in her life, which was when she moved to Canada, then moved back to Japan. She loved the smell of the fresh pillows, she loved the little in-flight meals, and the cute little touch screen TVs. She loved the round widows and their slide covers, and she loved the feeling of being in the air and looking down as the world got smaller and smaller beneath her. She never knew why she liked all these things, she just did.

As the captain said his welcoming announcement over the intercom, the flight attendants began their safety instructions and the plane's engines rumbled to life. The plane started moving at a slow pace, and then got faster and faster. Soon the plane lifted from the run way and Skyy said a little mental goodbye to Japan. Izzy let her lean over him so she could take pictures of the shrinking Japan below them as they got higher and higher in the air. Her stomach kept fluttering because Izzy's arm kept brushing against hers. Skyy also took a couple quick pictures of her friends in their seats. Soon the flight attendant came over though and told her she couldn't use any electronics until the seatbelt sign turned back on. Skyy grudgingly turned her camera off and put it away. As soon as the seatbelt sign was turned on and they were at a steady altitude, Izzy took out his laptop. Skyy didn't take her camera out because she figured there wasn't much to take pictures of right now. Izzy started showing Skyy more things about cruise ships on his computer. He also showed her some pictures he'd found of Alaska's scenery. She was thoroughly fascinated and didn't mind getting all of Izzy's attention. Tai kept stretching around front to talk to Matt and Sora, so he ignored his two seatmates. Skyy assumed he was doing it so she could be alone (somewhat) with Izzy.

The flight was long but Izzy and Skyy were entertained the whole way. Once there was nothing left to talk about cruise ships, they got bored and began looking up random videos on YouTube. Some were really stupid, but other videos were so funny that both Izzy and Skyy would burst out laughing when it was totally quiet all around the plane. They had gotten many stares from passengers during that flight. When they spotted people staring at them they slouched a little in their seats as if because they couldn't see the people looking at them, then those people couldn't see them either. At one point Tai took a picture of Izzy and Skyy together. He kept saying "okay get closer, okay a little closer, a little more, cloooseer" until the two were almost cheek to cheek. Skyy's face was bright red in the picture and she knew Tai was teasing her and doing it on purpose…she would have to slug him later.

When the plane finally landed in Seattle airport the teens were all tired from traveling and lethargically got off the plane. As soon as they got into the airport they were greeted by a loud, perky cheer.

"Sora! Matt! Skyy! Izzy! Tai!" Mimi's voice practically rang throughout the entire American airport. The once pink-haired digidestined came running over. It never occurred to Skyy how beautiful Mimi was. They had seen her a couple times over the years when she would come to visit. But right now she looked more beautiful then Skyy had ever seen her. Her hair was its natural color and tied into a high ponytail with pieces hanging down and framing her face. She had on a grey shirt that was baggy at the top with a wide neck, and then slimmed down at the waist. She had on a pink tank top underneath and white short shorts with brown boots that came up to just under her knee. Under the boots were grey socks that came up to her mid thighs. Mimi had a bright face and a wide smile on her mouth. When she reached the group she hugged the first person, which was Tai. She hugged him tightly.

"Oh my! It's so good to see all of you!" Mimi squealed. Skyy spotted a light blush on Tai's cheeks, and immediately got curious. Since when did Tai blush at Mimi? But she looked closer at his face and saw he had the same expression that he usually got when Sora gave him a surprise hug. Skyy grinned. Was her best friend unearthing a new attraction to someone **other** than Sora? very interesting…

"This trip is going to be just divine! I can't wait to check out the spa! You two are defiantly having a girl's night with me!" Mimi said letting go of Tai and turning to Skyy and Sora. Tai looked at the floor with a confused expression on his face. He looked a little dazed but broke away from it when Matt patted his back and asked if he was OK. He shrugged it off but Skyy could still see the confusion in his eyes.

Mimi gave everyone hugs and welcomed them. She chatted nonstop all the way until they got to the baggage claim.

"…and we can go to the club every night and meet guys and have drinks and dance all night long!" Mimi said. She had her arms linked with Sora and Skyy, though her words were really going in one ear and out the other, except for one person.

"What? Meet guys? You girls want to meet guys?" Izzy asked worriedly. Mimi turned and gave him an odd look.

"Of course! We're on vacation; we want to have some fun!" Mimi said grinning at him mischievously. Izzy's eyes widened.

"Uhh, she doesn't mean that! Ha ha ha" Tai said nervously to Izzy, who just nodded slowly. Sora put a finger on her chin.

"Actually that does sound a little fun, right Skyy?" Sora asked, playing along with Mimi. Matt got a little nervous this time as well.

"What? Sora—…" Matt started, but Skyy cut him off.

"Oh yes! I hear American boys are veeery good eye candy," Skyy said with a dreamy expression on her face. All three boys watched the girls saunter off with seriously worried looks in their eyes.

Once they reached the baggage claim, they got a spot beside the lift. When the bags started coming some accidentally started piling up on the lift and got stuck. The lift had to be closed for a minuet or two and Skyy clicked pictures as the bags piled higher and jammed the lift. When they all finally got their suitcases, Mimi led them to the taxis and they got two cabs. The girls all wanted to ride together so the boys went in another car.

"Westen Hotel please, it's downtown I believe" said Mimi in English as she made herself comfortable in the front seat. The cab driver nodded and pulled away from the airport. Mimi started pointing out certain landmarks and stores that she loved. She was chatting the whole way. Telling them the great places they could go to tomorrow and what restaurants to eat at. Skyy was somewhat listening, mostly focusing on taking her pictures of passing scenery. Sora seemed more interested and was asking questions which kept Mimi talking even more. This was a relief because Skyy hated the awkward silences during cab rides…

Mimi slid the room key into the slot and the door clicked open. The hotel rooms at the Westen were pretty average with two beds, a TV, some chairs, a desk, and a bathroom. But Skyy especially liked this room because one wall was a huge window looking down on the streets of downtown Seattle. Cars were bustling down streets and the tram was curving around buildings. Tiny dots walked along the sidewalks and the colors of the sunset splashed all over the sky. She could even see the Space Needle between two other skyscrapers. Skyy immediately took pictures of everything she found interesting in the room and in the view from the window.

"Wow, the view is so pretty. The colors are mystifying…"Skyy sighed as she got lost in the view. Sora smiled at her.

"Only an artist would find a sunset mystifying," Sora chuckled. Skyy smiled.

"Well, I am an artist!" Skyy said, snapping another picture of the sunset before turning away and putting her camera back in its case. Skyy did miss her paint and canvases back at home, but with all these pictures she was taking, she would have some great ideas for her next painting or sketch.

"So where do you guys want to go for dinner, I'm famished!" Mimi's voice rang from the bathroom. Sora went over to see her but Skyy could still hear them.

"I don't know, do you know any good places?" Sora's voice asked. Skyy heard a movement, which she assumed was Mimi shrugging.

"Not in the area no…I've never been to Seattle," Mimi replied.

"You haven't? But you were pointing out all those stores that you liked, and places to visit," Skyy questioned. Mimi poked her head around the corner so Skyy could see her.

"Well yeah, we have the same stores in New York, and I've heard about all those places from people and advertisements," Mimi explained.

"Oh…" Skyy sighed. There was a knock on the door. Sora went to open it because she was the closest. Skyy heard her open the door and a familiar voice answer.

"Hey girls! I don't know about you but we guys are totally starving! Let's go get something to eat!" Matt said. Sora laughed.

"You're not the only ones, but where should we go?" Sora asked as Matt, Tai, and Izzy invited themselves in. Skyy mentally thanked herself for not unpacking anything so that her suitcase wasn't wide open showing all of her private stuff. The boys had their own room down the hall.

"I dunno, I didn't see any restaurants I recognized except for McDonalds," said Tai. Skyy mimed gagging on the floor.

"No way! We are **not** going to McDicks," Skyy said scrunching up her face in disgust. Tai smirked at her nickname for the fast food grease shop.

"Why don't we just amble around and look for a place?" Izzy suggested. They all pondered the idea for a moment until Matt finally shrugged.

"Sounds good I could use a good walk," Matt said. Skyy and Sora nodded in agreement, but Mimi whined.

"But my boots have heels! If we're going for a **long** amble I can't do it in heels!" she said pointing at her brown boots.

"I have a pair of extra runners, wear those" Sora suggested. Mimi scrunched her face.

"Oh ew, I'm not wearing running shoes in **Seattle**!" she said putting her hands on her hips. Skyy rolled her eyes.

"Then you'll have to wear your boots, if you collapse then we can get one of the guys to haul you back," Skyy said. Mimi scrunched her face and the guys chuckled.

"She'd look like a drunken teenager," Tai chuckled.

"People would give her dirty looks," Matt grinned.

"Quite an unsightly appearance," Izzy said, grinning as well. Mimi huffed and went over to Sora's suitcase as grabbed the running shoes, giving up on her heel boots.

When they left at first all they were passing were clothing stores and hotels, but after walking down a couple, streets they started seeing a bunch of different restaurants. It had already gotten dark outside and all the lights were dazzling. Skyy kept stopping to take pictures of stores, signs, and walkways. There were an assortment of stores and shops lining the streets and on almost every corner was a different street performer. Skyy probably took a dozen pictures of all of them. Some man was only using plastic bins and a bent symbol for his music but he was actually really good. It reminded Skyy of a character in a musical called RENT. At one point they passed a massive arcade and Skyy was begging to go in. They literally had to drag her away or else she would spend the whole night there and blow all of her spending money. Skyy had a total of $100 saved up for spending and $70 saved for food. They also passed a big book store by the name of Barnes and Nobles, an American bookstore. Nonetheless Izzy really wanted to go in, even Matt wanted a look, but their stomach's suggested otherwise and they made a plan to go there some other time.

As they walked though they could feel their eyelids drooping. It was 2 in the morning back home and they had been up since around 7 that morning. Besides Mimi everyone was getting extremely tired and was barely keeping awake. Skyy kept yawning every 2 minuets and Tai would accidentally start wandering off in random directions before Mimi had to steer him back the right way. She would scold him saying people must think he was drunk or something. It only got worse when Izzy started stating all the bad things about staying up really late. Skyy had to shut him up buy lazily covering his mouth with her hand. Matt and Sora were walking in front with their fingers laced together, Sora's head leaning on Matt's shoulder. Tai seemed too tired to care which relieved Skyy. That way he wouldn't make a fuss about it.

Besides this they didn't really find many appealing restaurants, mostly just because they were expensive. They did see a really neat looking place that was decorated with drapes, old chairs and tables, masks, chandeliers and old paintings. It sort of reminded Skyy of a vintage theatre. Like the one in Phantom of the Opera. In fact the restaurant used to be an old movie theatre, but the prices were really expensive so they bypassed that restaurant. They finally settled on the Cheesecake Factory for the second time that day. 1, because they were extremely jet lagged (besides Mimi), 2, they were extremely hungry, 3, they hadn't actually had a meal before just cake, and 4, they honestly didn't care as long as they got fed. They wandered in and were surprised to be seated right away. They all got into a rather large booth and a perky waitress came along with menus.

"Hi there! Welcome to the Cheesecake Factory! Tonight's special is lettuce wraps and we have half price on all of our French styled cheesecakes! Now to start, can I get you all something to drink?" she said. Matt, Sora, Tai, and Izzy sort of just looked at her, not understanding her English. The waitress must have realized they didn't understand her because she gave them a worried glance. Mimi and Skyy smiled at her though.

"Thanks! I'll have some water with lemon please!" Mimi asked in perfect English. The waitress looked a little relieved. Skyy quickly asked her friends what they wanted to drink in Japanese and they all gave her their orders.

"Uhh, and two Cokes, one iced tea, one orange juice and another water with lemon please" Skyy translated for them. The waitress smiled and nodded.

"Okay! I'll be right back with your drinks!" she said happily and walked off.

"Wow Skyy, I didn't know you were so good with English!" Mimi gave Skyy an admiring look. Skyy shrugged.

"Well I lived in Canada for three years; I needed to know how to speak English for school," Skyy replied picking up her menu.

"Oh yeah, I forgot," Mimi sighed, picking up her menu as well. Skyy and Mimi had to help the others with what they wanted because they couldn't read the menu's very well. They had all taken Standard English at school, but they all dropped the subject finding it too hard. It was times like these that they regretted it most. Once everyone figured out what they wanted their conversations went dry. Skyy rested her head on the table, trying desperately not to fall asleep right then and there. She felt someone playing with her hair but didn't bother to look up and see who it was. Soon the waitress came back with their drinks and held out her notepad to take orders.

"Okay! Now I know these portions are big but I also know you all want some cheesecake after am I riiight?" the waitress smiled and winked at them. They all gave sarcastic laughs. Mimi and Skyy understood her perfectly, but even the others could pin point the word cake and understand what she was talking about. The waitress gave them knowing glances.

"Ah, I know, most people actually don't eat the cake after, anyway, what can I get for you?" she asked getting ready to write. Both girls translated orders and the waitress skipped off to the kitchen. They fell into a couple short conversations but were mostly all just sitting there. Skyy kept her mouth on the straw to her water and chewed it, taking sips once in a while. The chewing would help keep her eyes open. Ah how she looked forward to curling up in her nice big warm hotel bed and drifting off to sleep…

When the hotel room door clicked open all girls rushed in and quickly changed into their PJs. It wasn't even 10 minuets after they got in until they were already for bed and getting under the thick white covers. Sora was sleeping with Skyy and Mimi slept on the other bed. After they said their hasty goodnights they shut off the lights and let darkness shroud them. With all of their bellies almost full to explosion they all fell asleep easily. Dreams of cruise ships and dance parties filled Skyy's mind and she drifted into a heavy sleep. Not knowing a maroon haired boy a couple doors down was thinking of her instead…

End - Day One


	2. Day 2: Friday

Digimon Adventure 02 – Summer in Alaska

Day Two

Tai woke up too a loud ringing noise that filled the small hotel room. It took him a minute or two to remember where he was. There was a movement beside him as someone got out of the bed to turn off the noise.

"Uhh…sorry guys…I wired my computer to set off an alarm this morning," Izzy's sleepy voice answered. Tai groaned and he heard Matt shift in the other bed.

"Why on earth do we need an alarm?" Tai whined shoving his face deeper in the squishy white pillows.

"Because of our jet lag we would've slept in far too late. Even though we went to bed fairly early last night our bodies wouldn't have maintained all the physical energy they need. The average human needs at least…" but Tai tuned him out. How could this guy be so technological so early in the morning? What Skyy saw in him Tai never knew.

"Okay, okay, whatever just answer the question Iz…" Tai groaned after Izzy kept rambling on about how much sleep humans need to produce an efficient amount of energy. He didn't see it but Tai knew that Izzy glared at him. He knew this feeling so well because Skyy would glare at his back many times after he teased her about something or other.

"In short…we would've missed the tour to the chocolate factory, it starts at 10:30 and it's 9:00 right now," Tai heard Izzy shutting off his computer. He also heard the shuffling of sheets as Matt got out of the other bed.

"We should get ready quickly and have more time for finding the place; I'd rather not get lost on our fist day in Seattle, besides the girls will take forever to get ready…" Matt yawned and walked off to the bathroom. Tai peeked up from his pillow and let his eyes get used to the sunlight. They had talked briefly the night before about going to the chocolate factory because the girls said they wanted to go during dinner. In a matter of practically two seconds Izzy found the website on his laptop and figured out tour times. The boys decided to go early so they'd have the rest of the day for other things.

Tai dragged himself up from the cushiony bed and stared out the window. Izzy was putting his laptop back in its bag. His hair was a complete bed head and it was all over the place. Tai laughed in his head even though he had seen Izzy's bed head many times when he had come over for sleepovers. Mind you with Tai's hair his was probably ten times worse. Izzy stretched and walked off to the bathroom to join Matt. Tai rolled out of the bed and went over to the phone. He had to call the girls and get them up because they probably didn't have an alarm clock.

As he typed in the number of their room in the phone his heart beat a little quicker as he thought of Sora's voice answering the phone. But not until it started ringing did Mimi's face suddenly appear in his mind and his heart beat went even faster. Tai flinched a little.

Since when did he react this way to thinking of Mimi? This was like that time at the airport when Mimi hugged him and he got all embarrassed. This was totally confusing him because he had never felt this way for Mimi before. It was just Mimi, the Mimi he knew since he was 11. He had never had any reactions like this to her ever before. Tai's head started getting fuzzy thinking of this that he didn't even hear the voice answer on the other end.

"Hello...Hello?" the voice spoke in English. Tai snapped out of his daze and quickly answered.

"Yes! This is Tai speaking!" Tai said quickly in Japanese, and then suddenly felt stupid for his response.

"Tai you idiot! What the hell are you phoning for! Go back to sleep you moron!" Tai recognized the voice as Skyy's which had switched to Japanese. He breathed a sigh of relief (and a little disappointment). Tai snorted.

"Yeah whatever princess, listen you girls gotta get up now, the tour starts at 10:30,"

"What? That early! You're killing me dude."

"You always guess my real intentions so quickly…" Tai grinned into the phone.

"Shut up, I know your grinning…"

"You know me well, anyway I know it takes you guys five hours to get ready but make it quick cause we—"but Tai was cut off.

"excuuuse me? I do not take five hours to get ready! Maybe Mimi does but not me!" Skyy huffed. He heard a faint protest in the background which sounded like a sleepy Mimi arguing over Skyy's comment. Tai's heart did a little flip flop when he heard Mimi's voice. _"Stop that!"_ Tai told himself mentally. He tried to make his voice normal again.

"Ah, so lively in the morning aren't you?"

"So what?"

"Nothing, nothing! That's what we expect of our little short tempered girl," Tai heard her snort on the other end, probably rolling her eyes too. "Look, we don't know how long it's gonna take to get there, so try be as quick as possible okay?" Tai said. Skyy groaned on the other end.

"Ugggh! Fine…we'll see you later then…moron," Tai chuckled a little. She said the last part as she was putting the phone down but he heard it faintly. He hung up and turned to see Izzy peeking around the corner. Tai raised an eyebrow.

"What's up?"

"Who answered?" Izzy said a little faintly. Tai grinned mentally.

"Skyy."

"Oh really...ok" then Izzy's head disappeared into the bathroom. Tai smirked when he saw the faint blush on the 16-year-old's cheeks when he said her name. Then suddenly his head reappeared again.

"What did you mean by true intentions?" Izzy asked. Tai smiled.

"Oh, it's just a little joke, I asked them to get up early and she was all like "your killing me dude!" so I was being sarcastic," Tai shrugged.

"Oh."

"Why, did you think it was something else and get jealous?" Tai smirked. Izzy's face turned bright red.

"NO!" he snapped and turned and stomped back into the bathroom. Tai could hear Matt laughing then Izzy telling him off for doing it. Tai smiled to himself. _"Lucky ducks…both like each other…hmmm...maybe I should help give them a little push…a romance on the seas! Sounds cheesy…but fun too,"_ Tai thought as plans of setting up the two teens came bubbling up in his mind.

Skyy hung up the phone and collapsed back onto her pillow.

"…was that Tai? What did he say?" Mimi's irritated voice asked from the other hotel bed. She was still a teensy bit bitter from Skyy saying she takes 5 hours to get ready.

"We have to get up now for the chocolate tour thingy," Skyy grumbled. Mimi groaned loudly and Sora just sighed in annoyance. The three lay there for a minuet or two before Skyy finally shot up from the bed with a burst of energy. Though she immediately lost the energy as soon as she sat up. She rubbed the crud from her eyes as they adjusted to the brilliant sunlight shining into their room. Sora shifted beside her at the disturbance. Skyy lightly hit her back.

"c'mon, we have to get up and do it quickly or they're gonna bite off our heads," Skyy said to both of the other girls still trying to get away with some sleep. Mimi groaned again into her pillow.

"whhhyyy? I want to sleep!" she whined. Skyy swung legs over the side of the bed and stood up stretching her arms in the air. Sora peeked over at the sunlight and immediately dug her face back into the pillow. Skyy gave Mimi an annoyed look.

"If you don't get up I will, personally, sit on your head," Skyy said Mimi shot of from her bed in a second.

"Well I wasn't really sleepy anymore anyways!" Mimi said waltzing off towards the bathroom. Skyy grinned. She followed suit just as Sora was yawning and getting out of the bed they both shared.

It actually didn't take Skyy long to get ready; she had a quick shower and managed to get her hair dry in 5 minuets. She didn't wear much make-up so that didn't take long either. Choosing clothes took two seconds and before she knew it 40 minuets later Skyy was sitting all ready to go on her bed. Sora came out of the bathroom with a toothbrush in her mouth and started rummaging through her suitcase for something. Skyy hummed to herself quietly, getting bored fast.

"Are you guys done yet?" Skyy asked loudly.

"I told you give me five minuets! I'm almost done!" Sora said through a mouthful of toothbrush. Mimi on the other hand wailed loudly from the bathroom.

"What's wrong?" Skyy asked getting up from the bed.

"I have no idea what to do with my haaair! What'll I do if Tai sees me with an ugly hair-style!" Mimi wailed. Skyy and Sora froze where they stood. Mimi suddenly realizing what she said quickly stammered.

"Uhh, I mean a hot guy! Yeah! What if a hot guy sees me with an ugly hair-style?" Mimi stuttered loudly covering up what she had previously blurted. A huge grin stretched on Skyy's mouth as she bolted from the hotel bed and raced into the bathroom to a see a flushed Mimi gasp at her sudden appearance.

"**What** did you just say!" Skyy said excitedly, Sora was right behind her with a big grin on her face as well.

"You totally just said Tai! You **like** him don't you?" Sora squealed. Mimi blushed bright read and shook her head furiously.

"No! I don't! I meant any guy and Tai's name just slipped out! I don't like him at all! He's just the normal, stupid, annoying Tai!" Mimi snapped. She faced the mirror and started to furiously brush her long hair. Skyy turned a smirked at Sora, who returned the look. Skyy walked up and grabbed the brush from Mimi.

"Yeah, yeah whatever! Suuure" Skyy smiled as she started brushing Mimi's hair. Mimi pouted angrily but let Skyy continue brushing her hair. Her face wasn't a red as before but a light pink still tinted her cheeks. Sora ran her toothbrush under the sink and did a quick spit before continuing to brush her teeth.

"I really don't—"Mimi started but Skyy cut her off.

"Ok, ok! We believe you!" Skyy said but gave Sora a quick wink which the red-head returned knowingly. Skyy spotted some extra hair elastics on the bathroom counter and grabbed them. After a couple minuets Skyy finished Mimi's hair. She just did two simple braids going down Mimi's back.

"Oh thanks Skyy! It's looks so cute!" Mimi said. Skyy grinned and leaned close to Mimi's ear.

"Well I know Tai likes braids, that's for sure!" Skyy whispered slyly. Mimi blushed.

"Hey! I told you that I **don't**—" Mimi began angrily but Skyy chuckled and skipped out of the bathroom.

"Yeah! Yeah! You can't fool me Meems!" Skyy laughed as Mimi stomped out of the bathroom to change. She glared at Skyy before attacking her suitcase for some clothes. She was refusing the take the conversation any farther, resorting to grumbling insults under her breath. Skyy just grinned at her friend and looked at her purple watch on her wrist.

"Yo we should be meeting the guys soon," Skyy said to anyone in particular. Sora peeked out of the bathroom. She had finished brushing her teeth and was in the middle of putting on mascara.

"Why what time is it?"

"Almost 10 to…" Skyy answered, Sora didn't say anything.

"I'm going over to the guy's room, see you downstairs," Skyy said quickly. She didn't want to hang around and wait for her friends any longer. She hated waiting around.

"Okay, we'll only be a while longer," Sora said as Skyy walked over to the door. The hallway was quiet when Skyy closed the room door behind her. It took a second to remember which room number the guys had. She walked down the hall counting the doors until she finally found the one she was looking for. She knocked on the door. A shuffling came from inside. Then the door opened and a head poked out.

"Hello?" Izzy answered in English. He got the pronunciation a little wrong but it was still a clear greeting.

"Hey! Are you guys ready? Cause we—"Skyy started but Izzy cut her off.

"Ah! Skyy!" he jumped when he recognized her a quickly slammed the door shut in her face. Skyy blinked stupidly and started at the door. She frowned and raised a fist.

"Hey! You can't just slam the door in my face! Open up!" Skyy said angrily knocking on the door a little too hard. Izzy didn't answer.

"Hey! I said open up you dinky shrimp!" Skyy yelled. She didn't care if the other people in the hotel heard her. She heard a shuffle this time and the door opened again to reveal a displeased Izzy.

"I'm not short! You can't call me that anymore, or have you forgotten that I'm taller than you now," Izzy said in an agitated voice. Skyy crossed her arms and snorted.

"Well I had to get your attention **some** how! Why did you shut the door anyway?" Skyy asked rolling her eyes.

"Oh, uh, yeah sorry about that, I uh…the room was a little disorderly…and uh…I had to clean up a little..." Izzy said a small blush appearing on his cheeks. Skyy raised her eyebrows.

"Why bother? It's just me," Skyy said. Izzy shrugged and opened the door wider for her to come in.

"Well your still a girl…and this is a boy's room…"Izzy mumbled. Skyy chuckled.

"Gee thanks for noticing, but I've seen a messy guy's room before so I don't really care," Skyy shrugged. Izzy shut the door behind her.

"You've been in a guy's room before?" he asked. Skyy nodded, she had her back to him though.

"Yeah, Tai's…hey not bad for a quick clean up!" Skyy laughed as she saw at the suitcases were shoved with clothes and other items and the beds were somewhat straightened. Skyy flopped down on the nearest bed. Izzy chuckled.

"Thanks…I think, so why are you here anyways?" Izzy asked.

"Just wanted to see what you guys were up to…where are Matt and Tai?" Skyy asked noticing the other two boys were not in the room. She hid her embarrassment of the fact that she and Izzy were alone.

"They went downstairs to pay for two rental cars…"Izzy said.

"ohh I hope they get real cool ones!" Skyy said excitedly. Izzy nodded.

"Yeah…soo…you've been in Tai's room?" Izzy asked as casually as possible even though it was actually bugging him a little. Skyy cocked her head and looked up at him with a confused expression.

"Yeah? We're best friends so I go and hang out there a lot," Skyy said as if it was common sense. Izzy laughed.

"Oh yeah! Right, best friends, of course you hang out!" Izzy said scratching the back of his head. An awkward silence suddenly filled the room as either didn't know what to say after. Skyy bit her lip ad looked out the window.

"sooooo…" Izzy said shifting from one foot to the other. Skyy looked over at him.

"sooooooooooo…" she mirrored. Izzy smiled.

"We should probably go check up on the other guys! I told the girls I'd be downstairs waiting for them and anyway, I want to be in the swankiest car so I need to get first dibs!" Skyy said jumping from the bed. Izzy laughed.

"Practicing your twenty's vocabulary?" Izzy smirked as he followed Skyy to the door.

"Yep!"

"Well, sorry to burst your bubble but this is the 21st century," Izzy teased. Skyy turned and stuck her tongue out at him.

"Whatever! I'll bring the twenty's back all by myself," Skyy said.

The two of them chatted all the way down in the elevator. When they got out Skyy saw Tai waiting over by the entrance in the lobby. She waved over to grab his attention.

"Tai! Tai!" she called, a smile on her face as she ran over to him. Izzy walked behind her. Tai grinned when he saw them and waved them over. Skyy reached him first and he leaned close to whisper in her ear.

"Soo, you came down with Izzy eh? Anything interesting happen?" Tai teased. Skyy turned red and punched him in the shoulder. Tai laughed.

"Oww jeez girl!" Tai rubbed his shoulder and Skyy glared at him. Tai nodded towards Izzy who walked up behind Skyy.

"Hey Iz, so, are the girls ready yet?" Tai asked directing his question towards Skyy.

"They said they'd be a couple minutes," Skyy said. Tai ran a hand through his bushy brown hair.

"Arrgh, they better hurry because Matt might not be able to hold those two cars for much longer before the dealer won't let us have them anymore," Tai said. Izzy's eyes widened.

"What? But we've already paid for them right? The dealer shouldn't be entitled to—" but Tai cut him off.

"Apparently he can…" Tai said. Skyy puzzled for a moment.

"Hey wait a second how is it that you guys got rental cars when you can't speak English?" Skyy asked. Tai grinned.

"Fortunately the dealer spoke multiple languages because of all the tourists around here, and one of them was Japanese!" Tai said, "Aren't we lucky?"

"What are the odds of that eh?" Skyy said raising her eyebrows.

"Approximately 1 in 374 000, considering the amount of Americans who probably don't speak Japanese unless they are or are related to the Japanese," said Izzy mater-a-factly. Skyy beamed at his intelligence and Tai grinned at Skyy because of her obvious affection for him in her smile. Though Izzy didn't notice this affection (obviously). Just then Sora and Mimi walked up to them all dressed and dolled up to go. Tai blushed when he saw them. Skyy noticed this but she was unsure which he was blushing for.

"Finally! We have to go! Those rental cars might already be gone," Tai said marching away quickly so that the girls didn't notice his red face. Sora looked at him oddly.

"What's with him?" she asked to anyone who would answer. Skyy grinned.

"Blooming affections!" Skyy sighed dreamily. Both girls and Izzy gave her confused looks. Skyy just waved her hand signaling that it was better they didn't know.

They all met with Matt outside and thankfully he still was holding the two rental cars. The cars were grey and a little outdated but they'd do. Skyy was a little disappointed that they didn't get neato sports cars but Tai just scolded her saying she was living in a fantasy land. Matt decided to drive one whilst Mimi drove the other. Sora wanted to be with Mimi. Tai went with Matt; Skyy assumed that he didn't want to be inside a car with **two** girls he might be crushing over. Skyy was the only other besides Tai himself who noticed the sudden budding of affections he had for the talkative Mimi. Skyy decided to go with Tai then Izzy immediately decided to go with her as well.

It took them a while but with Izzy navigating them, they eventually found the chocolate factory in a neighborhood about 10 minuets away from downtown Seattle. The neighborhood was simply beautiful and Skyy couldn't stop snatching pictures of everything they passed. Little houses with lush gardens and vine covered buildings covered the sides of the streets. The roads were all curvy and went every which way. Skyy didn't remember seeing one sensible looking cross section. Each one had about 5 different roads winding away from each other. Everything looked so naturally pleasant, but what Skyy loved most about the neighborhood was the random street art and sculptures that would be on the sidewalks and stores. Artful graffiti colored plain walls and abstract sculptures would be standing on the corners of every street. Some of the sculptures blending into other objects like street lamps or trashcans. Skyy loved the entire artistic flavor and it was causing her to want to paint or sculpt something. But since she couldn't she was taking pictures of everything instead. Izzy glanced at her several times as she oo'd and ahh'd at the scenery. He smiled.

"Missing your art supplies?" he said. He was leaning on the front seat that Skyy occupied with his chin leaning on the shoulder of the seat. Skyy jumped because she felt his warm breath tickle her neck. She put her hand on the spot where she felt his breath.

"Huh? How'd you know I was missing my stuff?" Skyy asked turning to see his face. Izzy smiled, glad he had guessed right.

"Lucky guess," he said winking at her. Skyy smiled lightly and snapped a picture of him thinking he looked incredibly cute at that moment. Izzy blinked a couple times after the flash went off.

"Heeey! Didn't I say to inform me when you take photographs?" Izzy said rubbing his eyes. Skyy smiled.

"But it's more fun when you do it by surprise!" Skyy said taking another picture of him. Izzy growled playfully and snapped the camera from her hands. He pointed the camera at her and started clicking the button over and over so it kept taking pictures of her. Skyy raised her eyebrows and made a grab for the camera but Izzy dodged and continued snapping pictures laughing at her failed attempt.

"Heey! You're not supposed to do it **back**!" Skyy pouted and made another grab. Izzy laughed again.

"Why? It's more fun when you do it by surpriiise!" Izzy said mimicking her voice. Skyy clenched her teeth and tried grabbing the camera again.

"C'mon! Your gonna break it!" Skyy whined but she still had a smile on her face as Izzy dodged another one of her grabs. Suddenly Tai's hand lunged and grabbed the camera from Izzy's hand which took him a little by surprise.

"If you two are done flirting with each other can we please keep track of where we're going?" Tai said bordly and handing the camera back to Skyy. She blushed bright red, as well as Izzy.

"I wasn't flirting!" Izzy and Skyy said at the same time. Tai just stuck out his tongue.

"You totally were," Tai said smiling but keeping his gaze out the window. Skyy huffed and turned around so she faced forwards again. She and Izzy didn't bother arguing. Matt grinned to himself as he drove. He reached out and ruffled Skyy's hair playfully but she just ignored him and slouched in her seat. Matt chuckled and returned his attention to the road. Izzy was silent too. He usually was a little jealous that all of Skyy's guy friends were so "friendly" with her, especially Tai. He knew they meant well, but he still got jealous because he seemed too shy to do things like that. He had his speculations about Tai possibly liking Skyy, despite what he always said about them being best friends. Izzy still had a small nagging feeling that Tai wasn't being honest. Even so Izzy and Skyy sat, beat red, the entire rest of the way to the chocolate factory.

The chocolate factory was an average sized brown building that looked recently re-constructed. The windows where big and the entrance had a little bell overtop so that when you went inside it rang. As soon as the 6 teens entered the main room the smell of chocolate filled their noses. There where many different tables with different types of chocolate bars being displayed with separate plates with broken up pieces of chocolate out and ready to be sampled. There was a big front desk that had different types of truffles being displayed and free cups of water for those who had eaten too many samples. There was also a big fire place in the far corner with big squishy green couches and a coffee table with comment cards ready for guests who had taken the tour.

Skyy immediately skipped over to try the samples. The others spread out and were looking at samples too. Skyy picked a random table and scanned the flavors. Cherry. Mango. African. Mixed Fruit. Mint. Vanilla. Skyy stopped at the Vanilla and smiled. Vanilla was her favorite so she picked up the biggest piece of sampler chocolate she could find and popped it into her mouth.

"How is it?" Skyy spun around to see Izzy who was looking at the other flavors on the table.

"It's really good! It's Vanilla!" Skyy said happily picking up a full packaged bar and showing it to him. He smiled and took the bar from her.

"Ahh, your favorite," He looked at the bar then gave it back. Skyy raised her eyebrows.

"How'd you know that?" she asked. Izzy shrugged.

"With you and confections it's always Vanilla," Izzy grinned at her. Skyy frowned.

"Aww, that's not fair! I don't know what your favorite is…" Skyy pouted. How could he know her favorite flavors and she didn't know his? She liked the guy for goodness sakes! She was supposed to know these things!

Izzy leaned closer and lightly brushed his fingers through her hair. Skyy, taken aback by his sudden action, blushed lightly. Izzy grinned at her reaction and held up a piece of sampler chocolate and touched it to her mouth. Skyy blushed deeper because of his proximity. She didn't even notice he had the chocolate in his hand.

"I prefer lemon," Izzy said and Skyy opened her lips a little as he popped the sampler chocolate into her mouth. He moved away and smiled. Skyy's face was still feeling hot as she chewed. The chocolate was lemon flavored, and it was really good.

"That was…uh I mean…that was a little forward…" Skyy mumbled. Izzy raised his eyebrows.

"Forward? How so?" Izzy inquired.

"W-well…I mean you got really close…and touched my hair and stuff…isn't that the sort of thing...that c-couples do?" Skyy stammered. Izzy shrugged.

"What? You don't want people to conceive that we're a couple?" Izzy asked calmly. Skyy blushed deeper if it was even possible.

"Well…no…I mean we aren't so—" she started but Izzy laughed cutting her off.

"It was just a joke! You gather things too seriously!" Izzy chuckled. Before Skyy could say her response Izzy turned and walked over to Tai. Skyy frowned and looked down at the chocolate samples.

"Idiot…"She mumbled to herself. _"Why are you so stupid! Because you said that you didn't want people thinking you were a couple he won't think you're interested! Not that he's particularly interested but still!"_ Skyy thought angrily.

Skyy's head was still a little dizzy from Izzy being so close but she shook her head and grabbed a couple more pieces of vanilla chocolate samplers. She browsed around the other tables but all of the other chocolates she tasted weren't as good as the vanilla or the lemon. She was definitely going to be buying a couple vanilla bars…and maybe a lemon one too. Though now she was a little embarrassed buying the lemon one because she knew it was his favorite.

Soon a perky tour guide came and gathered up all the people lounging in the main entrance. She gave out hair nets that they all had to wear. Mimi complained about hers and Skyy also felt completely stupid wearing hers. But they toughed it out and were all lead downstairs into a small room with a bunch of chairs. The whole tour was actually kind of boring. Mimi and Sora where the only ones who really wanted to go. Skyy only agreed to go because she thought she could buy some good chocolate. But most of the chocolate was dark chocolate or had fruity flavors that Skyy thought didn't belong in chocolate. The tour was just all about how they made the chocolate and where they got the beans to make it from. Skyy was starting to feel a little queasy near the end of the tour. All of the gross tasting chocolate she had sampled was starting to take effect. Tai noticed her face turning paler and walked over beside her.

"Hey champ, you feeling okay? You look a little pale…" Tai asked quietly. He didn't want to interrupt the perky tour guide when she was explaining how to dry out cocoa beans. Oh what joy?

"Uggh…all of the nasty fruity crap is making my stomach feel weird," Skyy groaned. Tai looked concerned and held a hand up to her forehead. Her forehead wasn't particularly warm so at least she wasn't coming down with a fever or anything. He felt someone staring at him but he didn't bother about that.

"How much did you eat?" Tai asked.

"I had one of each sample…..I only liked two though," Skyy mumbled. Tai rolled his eyes.

"Next time look at the label before you eat stuff you nimrod!" Tai scolded. Skyy smiled weakly. She held her arms across her stomach. Tai held her shoulders and rubbed her back lightly.

"Do you feel like your going to be sick?" he asked. Skyy shrugged her shoulders.

"I dunno…"

"What's wrong?" Izzy's worried voice asked as he walked over to them.

"She's not feeling well, she ate a bunch of chocolate she didn't like and now it's not making her feel very well," Tai said letting go of her shoulders. Izzy took the opportunity and took over rubbing Skyy's back lightly.

"I'm gonna go ask Mimi if she can ask the tour guide if we can be excused…" Tai said. Izzy nodded and Tai pushed through the crowd to get to the front. Izzy looked down at Skyy.

She looked at the floor with a disgruntled look on her face. Skyy didn't really know what to say as an awkward silence fell over them. Skyy chuckled after a while.

"Don't you hate awkward silences?" she grinned. Izzy sighed in relief, laughing.

"Yes, actually," he said, grinning back. Just then Tai started to come back towards them.

"Yeah, she said we could be excused…I guess she didn't want people finding out someone got sick from eating her companies chocolate," Tai chuckled and put a shoulder around Skyy. This caused Izzy to let go and he stood there awkwardly. Tai began to lead Skyy toward the exit and she assumed Izzy would follow but he turned away from them and stood with the others. Skyy tried to ignore the disappointment because he didn't follow them. They walked back through the doors and into the waiting room they were in before. Tai sat Skyy down on one of the big squishy couches and he left to get a cup of water for her.

"We should go get some real food after, that will make your stomach feel better," Tai said over from the water dispenser. Skyy nodded.

"Yeaah! A good bowl of soup sounds good right now!" Skyy sighed. Tai chuckled.

"We saw a soup place just around the corner didn't we? When we were driving in?" Skyy said as Tai came back and handed a small cup of water to her. She thanked him and took a sip. He nodded.

"Yeah…I remember, it was a small place…Nana's Soup House I think it was called," Tai pondered. Skyy nodded.

"Yeah! That's it! Let's go there after the others get back from the tour!" she grinned. Tai agreed happily.

"Yeah, besides, the little local restaurants are always better than the big fancy ones downtown," Tai said.

"They are?" Skyy asked. Tai grinned.

"I don't know I'm just saying that," Tai said winking in a joking manner. The two sat happily chatting away whilst they waited for their other friends to come join them…

Nana's Soup House was the cutest little restaurant Skyy had ever been in. She absolutely adored it to bits. It was a house that had been re-decorated to be a restaurant. All of the rooms had a different color on the walls. The rooms were all connected by archways that had twinkling Christmas lights outlining them. There was a room with booths so the 6 friends decided to sit in a booth. It was a neat place where you ordered up at a counter, paid, then waited to be served at your table. There was a help-yourself drink table where you helped yourself to any drink you wanted. There where bright windows that the sun would shine through. Skyy sat right up against the widow, which was open. The smell of the soup and the cool breeze from the window was totally relaxing and Skyy could feel the queasiness in her stomach disappearing. As they were waiting Skyy noticed a large painting on the wall opposite to the booth. It was a painting of a woman almost kissing a glossy white statue of a man. It was a simple painting but Skyy was so taken with it and kept staring at it. It was like the woman was wishing for something that she couldn't have but it still didn't stop her from dreaming.

Skyy could feel someone looking at her then Izzy's voice suddenly spoke directly to her.

"You like that painting?" Izzy asked. Skyy jumped a little, losing the trance that the painting gave her.

"Ah, yes! It's a very beautiful painting…" Skyy gave the painting an admiring look. Izzy smiled and looked at it too.

"Yeah, it's kind of like the woman wants something she cannot have but it doesn't stop her from dreaming about it…right?" Izzy said softly. Skyy stared at him. He noticed her intense stare and was taken aback a little bit.

"W-what? Was it something I said? It is a little weird I guess…" Izzy stammered. Skyy shook her head furiously.

"No not at all! In fact that's exactly what I was thinking! I was just surprised you were thinking the exact same thing!" Skyy said, amazed. Izzy raised an eyebrow.

"Oh really? Weird huh?" Izzy blushed lightly, scratching the back of his head. Skyy beamed at him. Another thing she loved about Izzy was that he always understood her. He knew exactly what she was thinking or feeling. She loved that he knew that. Except it made her feel a little bad at times when she didn't know what he was thinking or feeling. She wanted to know Izzy like he seemed to know her. Skyy gazed at the painting again. She clicked a quick picture of it just as the waitress came by with their soups. The place was empty except for them so it was nice and peaceful whilst they were eating.

"Hey! My folks just texted me! They're staying in a RV camp not too far from here!" Sora said suddenly in the middle of the meal. Skyy looked up from her broccoli cheese soup.

"What? Your folks? What do they want?" Skyy asked. Sora shrugged.

"I don't know! It's my Obasan and Ojisan," Sora answered.

"Hey! We should go visit them!" Mimi said clapping her hands together.

"Yeah! And have smores and stuff!" Tai said excitedly. Skyy smiled.

"Sounds great! If there's smores I'll be there!" she said. Izzy grinned at her. Sora nodded.

"That's sounds awesome! I'll text them back and ask them if we can go up for the evening," Sora said as she started to madly text on her phone. They waited and a minuet later Sora's aunt and uncle texted back. Sora quickly read the message and smiled triumphantly.

"They said it would be totally fine!" Sora said happily. Tai punched a fist in the air.

"Awesome! We get to go camping!" he cheered.

"It's only for the evening though, and they have two huge Saint Bernard's so be ready for some slobber," Sora chuckled. Mimi twisted her face.

"Ew, slobber, but I do love dogs!" Mimi said shrugging it off.

"It takes about two hours to get out there so we should leave after this," Sora said putting away her phone and continuing to eat her tomato soup.

"Maybe we should stop by the hotel to get changed…if there's slobber involved we don't want to be wearing good clothes," said Izzy. Mimi nodded furiously in agreement.

"So it's set then, we spend the evening with Sora's folks? There wasn't anything else anyone wanted to do today?" Matt asked. Everyone shook their heads.

"Alright! I haven't seen my Obasan and Ojisan for a while so it'll be good to catch up!" Sora said happily.

"I can't wait to meet the dogs! I love dogs! Even big slobbery ones!" Skyy squealed. Tai smiled at her.

"You feeling better kid?" he asked. Skyy glared at him.

"Yes I am and I am not a kid! I'm the same age as you and don't forget it!" Skyy snapped. Tai chuckled and raised his hands in surrender.

They all ate the rest of their soup and with full stomach's said a hearty goodbye to the people working there and left for their cars. They stopped off at the hotel to quickly change clothes then met back down in the lobby. Sora's uncle had sent her a map so they knew how to get their and Izzy used it to download a bigger image on his computer. And with that they set off for the RV camp.

The ride wasn't very long on Skyy's part since she fell asleep in the front seat. Skyy only awoke when they pulled up to the front gates. A couple of teenage girls waited to take the entrance fee. Both girls at the ticket booth blushed madly as Matt rolled down the window.

"Uhh! Um how long are you s-staying for!" the girl stammered at Matt's good looks. She spoke in English. Matt turned to look at Skyy helplessly. Skyy leaned forward and the girl looked a little disappointed when she saw there was another girl in the car with this handsome fellow.

"We're just staying for the evening to visit some relatives," Skyy answered in English. The girl nodded sadly.

"Ah okay, if it's just for the evening then there is no fee, but at least tell me what camp site your staying in!" the girl winked at Matt and he grinned back. Skyy rolled her eyes.

"Sorry, your brain won't be able to comprehend that big a number, byyye!" Skyy waved and told Matt to go forward in Japanese. He nodded and rolled the window back up. The car lurched forward and began driving over a bumpy road.

"Uggh, that girl was totally hitting on you…" Skyy grumbled. Matt raised his eyebrows in surprise.

"Really? Was that why she winked at me?" he asked innocently. Skyy hit him over the back of the head.

"Yes! And you already knew that!" Skyy said angrily. Tai and Izzy chuckled from the back seat. Matt grinned widely.

Mimi was driving the other rental car behind them. After a minuet or two of driving through what seemed like a maze of roads they reached Sora's relative's campsite. It was a small campsite with a picnic table and a fire pit. Taking up the most space was a huge RV that looked like it could fit 20 people. A middle-aged woman came around the car and waved excitedly. They all opened their doors and climbed out of their cars. Sora ran forward and hugged her aunt.

"Obasan! It's been so long!" Sora squealed.

"Ahh! Little hime!" her aunt hugged her back. Sora frowned.

"Obasan! Don't call me that anymore! I'm not little!" Sora said in a hushed voice. Her aunt laughed.

"Okay, okay! Sora! It's been a while! You've grown!" her aunt beamed at her and looked her up and down. Sora smiled and did a little twirl for her aunt.

"Takashi!" her aunt yelled suddenly. "Takashii! Your niece is here come say hello!"

The other friends stayed in a little huddle, unsure of what to do.

"What do you want you old woman!" a man's voice yelled back. The trailer door swung open and an averaged sized husky looking man marched down the stairs. Once his eyes fell on Sora he beamed.

"My, My! Little Sora! Is that our little Sora!" the man whooped loudly. Sora beamed as the man came over and gave her a bone-crushing hug.

"Ojisan! I missed you!" Sora squealed not affected at all by the hug. Meanwhile Sora's aunt took into account Sora's friends and greeted them all happily. She set up a bunch of chairs around the fire and immediately snapped at her husband to get the barbeque ready. The teens each picked a chair and got comfortable. Skyy snuggled into a blue camp chair and took in her surroundings properly. They were in a little section of the camp that looked out onto the lake. Each campsite had its own pit and was close enough to each other that you could see the other RVs. The campsite had a view of the lake and was only about 10 meters away from the shore. There were some cottages on the other side of the lake and there was the odd boat out fishing on the smooth water. The sun was just beginning to set and the odd tinges of orange and pink streaked across the sky. Skyy snapped a couple pictures of the scenery so she would be able to paint it when she got home. Suddenly Sora's aunt came bustling into the middle of the circle of chairs.

"How about we go walk the dogs along the lake while Ojisan is cooking the salmon?" she said happily. Skyy perked up.

"Oh yeah! Sora said you have St. Bernards! Where are they?" she asked noticing for the first time the huge dogs were no where to be seen.

"They're in the trailer, they get a little excited when company comes, and also they like to chase the smaller dogs…" Sora's aunt said. She walked over to the trailer and opened the door. Loud sounds of paws thundering down the weak little staircase coming down from the door could be heard.

"Ahh! Takashi grab Bently!" Sora's aunt said the her uncle rushed to grab the leash of a big furry St. Bernard dog that had trails of drool coming down from it's droopy muzzle. It was a bug muscular male dog. Then a smaller female came around the corner after Bently. She was smaller but her coat was longer. Sora's aunt had the end of the dog's leash rapped three times around her hand as the dog dragged her along. Skyy beamed and shot up to pet the dogs. Tai, Matt, Izzy and Sora came up enthusiastically too to pet the huge canines. Mimi was a little hesitant and stayed back. Tai noticed and told her to come over. Mimi walked slowly over and Tai took her hand. He held her hand on top of Bently's head and Mimi petted him. Mimi squealed and the softness and she continued petting him happily. Tai grinned at her.

Skyy watched the two with a happy smile on her face. Sora's aunt took the female dog, now known as Sydney, whilst Sora got Bently. Sora was having a little difficulty holding onto Bently so Matt helped her out. They all walked down to the edge of the lake and began walking along about a meter from the water. The sun was setting faster now and the colors in the sky became more vibrant. Skyy walked along with her hands crossed behind her back. Suddenly warm breath tickled her ear from behind.

"Y'know this would be a great time to get some romance on with Izzy don'tcha think?" Tai's teasing voice said. Skyy blushed and turned around to punch him but he caught her fist in his palm. He winked at her and she huffed.

"Jeez! I'm starting to think it was a bad idea telling you that I like him!" Skyy mumbled. Tai grinned.

"Naah, I would've figured it out anyway," Tai said falling into step beside her.

"Soo what do you think of the place?" Skyy asked.

"Ehh it's cool, not as outdoors as I though it'd be…hey don't you think Matt's being a little too friendly?" Tai said in a slightly agitated voice. He nodded his head towards the direction where Sora and Matt were walking Bently. Matt had his arm around her waste and they were talking with their faces close together. Skyy grinned.

"Well they are a couple, besides why would you be worried about that? I saw that little thing with Mimi," Skyy said. Tai stared at her.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean when you helped her pet the dogs, and you took her hand and put it on the dogs head," Skyy said dreamily. Tai gave her a confused look.

"So what?" he asked.

"Sooo! It was cute!" Skyy said. Tai shook his head.

"Jeez I don't get you!"

"So you like her right?" Tai froze.

"What! Why are you asking a question like that out of the blue!" Tai spazzed.

"Because it's necessary," Skyy answered plainly. Tai's face was beat red and he huffed in annoyance.

"I don't dislike her…" he answered awkwardly. Skyy grinned from ear to ear.

"So you **do** like her," she said.

"No! I didn't say that!" Tai said angrily.

"But you said you don't **dislike **her!" Skyy smiled and ran away from him towards Mimi before he could argue.

Skyy could feel Tai's glare but she ignored it happily. She didn't know if Tai truly liked Mimi, but he was showing early signs so she had to help him get along. By asking him if he liked her he would start to think about it and take Mimi seriously for once. Skyy was trying to get the two together one step at a time. This was mostly for Tai's sake. He couldn't pine for Sora the rest of his life, and Mimi was a kick-ass girl! They were simply perfect for each other!

As the teens walked along the edge of the lake Sora's aunt told the teens all about the lake and the camp site. The lake was currently at low tide and as the sun went down the tide would rise. Though the sun was setting it was still pretty high up so it was okay for them to walk out as far as they could go. It seemed like half of the lake was uncovered by water and the mud and shells that would be underwater by nightfall were out in the open. The teens ventured out onto the mucky sand so get a look at all the rocks and shells. Sora's aunt stayed farther back with the dogs because the dogs were not allowed that far out. Tai saw so many different shells wedged into the sand and even saw a couple with little critters still inside. He found a big one with a crab thing that was still alive and half hanging out of it. Tai took it and kept chasing Skyy around with it before she accidentally hit his hand away and the shell went flying. They couldn't walk out very far though because the sand turned into mud and the mud would suck at the bottom of your shoes and sometimes would pull your shoes off.

As they looked around Izzy came up to Tai and showed him a small rock. The rock was red and incredibly smooth. Izzy was explaining how the water carved at the stone and made it as smooth as it was. He was going on and on and Tai just kept nodding as it went in one ear and out the other. He finally decided to interrupt Izzy's droning.

"Cool rock, maybe you should give it to someone…"Tai said, knowing exactly who he should give it too. Izzy looked up at him, forgetting all about his explanations.

"Really? Who? I bet my mom would appreciate it," Izzy said looking back down at his tiny red rock. Tai mentally slapped his forehead.

"Uhhh, no! How about someone you care about? Like a lot…like some you like?" Tai said hinting heavily. Izzy suddenly blushed.

"Uh yeah, maybe…that's a good suggestion!" Izzy said. Tai smiled triumphantly. He knew that Izzy would give it to Skyy. She would like that a lot. Tai laughed lightly to himself as he imagined Skyy's face when Izzy would give her the rock.

"What are you laughing at?" Izzy asked.

"Oh uh, nothing, never mind," Tai waved his hand.

"So…speaking of people I like, who do you like?" Izzy asked casually. Tai blushed.

"Jeez, what's with people and asking he this question lately!" Tai groaned. Izzy frowned.

"I don't understand,"

"Uh, it's nothing, uhhh I don't know, I mean I know I like someone….but then there is another girl," Tai started. Izzy perked up a little bit when he said "other girl" and seemed to be listening more intently now. "…And…uggh I don't know I'm so confused about it…" Tai mumbled kicking some of the mud lightly with his shoe. Izzy observed him silently.

"You like two girls?" Izzy asked slowly.

"No, I mean…I don't know…I know the other girl doesn't like me and she never would...but…" Tai mumbled.

"It's all right….I think I know who your talking about," Izzy said a little sadly, but Tai didn't notice it.

"You do?" Tai asked, surprised that Izzy would catch on so well. Izzy nodded.

"Well, I'm gonna go…uh over there…"Izzy mumbled and trudged away with his rock clenched in his hand. Tai watched his friend walk away. Tai looked down at his feet as he thought a little more about his feelings for Mimi and his feelings for Sora.

Tai stuck his shoes into some mud and slowly picked it back up again as the mud sucked on it slightly. Soon Sora's aunt was calling them back. The dogs were getting dehydrated from the heat and the salmon would be ready soon. With food in mind Tai quickly walked back over to Sora's aunt as the other teenagers followed suit.

When they got back to the camp site the dogs were sent inside with big bowls of water and all of them sat around two picnic tables as Sora's uncle and aunt passed out the food. They were having cedar cooked salmon with rice and a bean dish with corn on the cob as well.

The meal was fantastic and everybody wanted seconds. Sora's uncle and aunt seemed very happy to have some company with them. They kept chatting all about the camp site and funny stories about the dogs or other families at the campsite. As the sun went down the food was disappearing and the camp fires were starting to be lit. As everybody shifted from picnic table to camp chairs Sora's uncle and Tai both tackled the fire. It took them a while because the lighter wasn't working so they fumbled around with it until it finally started to light. Tai and Matt started to get hyper and kept adding more and more logs and kindling to the fire to make it bigger. Everyone laughed at their efforts.

The tide was coming up incredibly fast. It was so fast that you could stand on the edge and see the water rising about half and inch per second. At one point Skyy went over to go sit with Sora who was on a log that sat over the water. She had her feet dangling over the edge. On her way Skyy didn't notice just how far the tide had come up and stepped into the water with her shoes on. Her feet were immediately drenched and she spazzed away from the water. Tai whooped with laughter and constantly kept teasing her about her clumsiness. This was why, presently, Skyy had her feet outstretched toward the fire with her socks dangling from some sticks. The dogs had been allowed outside again and Bently was lying underneath Skyy's outstretched feet and snoring loudly. Once in a while Skyy would bend down and scratch his head or pet his ears and his tail would thump on the ground lazily.

As she sat Tai, Matt and Sora (who had retired from sitting on the log) were singing some unknown Japanese folk song. Skyy watched them happily. Izzy, who had been sitting by the water, suddenly got up and walked over toward the chair next to Skyy, maneuvering around the large sleeping dog at her feet. Skyy was so busy watching her hyper friends that she only noticed Izzy as he fell into the camp chair next to her with a thud.

"Hey, what's up?" Skyy said peeking over at Izzy. She blushed lightly at his appearance. He looked incredibly good looking with the shadows of the fire dancing over his face.

"Ah, not much…." Izzy said, but he was fidgeting with his hands.

"Oh, ok….." Skyy mumbled as she resumed watching her friends. Izzy bit his lip. Skyy glanced over at him again.

"Was there something else you wanted to say?" she asked. Izzy smiled.

"Yeah I, uh, found this rock, and it might strike one as being cool…" Izzy said. Skyy raised her eyebrows.

"A rock? Can I see it?" she asked leaning a bit closer to him and he fumbled with something in his hands. He held the small rock up to her face so she could see it. The rock was about the size of her upper thumb. It looked like it was a dark maroon color in the fire's light but Skyy could tell that in proper light it was probably a dark red color.

"Wooow, it's so pretty!" Skyy said as Izzy dropped the rock into her hands. "It's really smooth too! Mind you it would be if it was originally underwater," Skyy said and she rubbed the stone with her thumbs. Izzy smiled.

"I wager it would make a great necklace or keychain or some sort of adornment," he said, but Skyy shook her head.

"Nah, I think its good just the way it is, it could be like a stress stone or nerve stone, I wouldn't want to change it at all," Skyy said and she started to hand it back to him. Izzy shook his head though.

"I don't want it," he said. Skyy cocked her head.

"Why? It's so pretty…" she said looking back down at the rock.

"Well I was going to give it to you because you seem to be fond of these sorts of trinkets…" Izzy mumbled. It was a little rushed but Skyy understood him.

"Wha! Really? Thanks so much Iz!" Skyy beamed and gave him a light hug over the armrests of their chairs. Izzy blushed and hugged her back.

"I'll cherish it always because Izzy gave it to me!" Skyy said happily, which made Izzy blush even more. Skyy let go of him and gazed down at her rock happily. Izzy slumped a little in his seat with a blush on his cheeks and a triumphant smile on his mouth.

The rest of the night was complete bliss filled with jokes and laughter. Skyy had taken so many silly pictures of Tai, Matt, and Sora singing and dancing around, and another picture of Izzy with smore all over his face. They all had about 10 smores each which eventually got them all really hyper. At one point the girls were dancing around singing some sort of song and some American guys from another camp started wolf whistling at them and yelling things like "sexy" and "I want you". This got the guys a little pissed and they chased the other group of boys away whilst chanting Japanese curses which the other boys didn't understand anyway. This left the girls in heaps of laughter as their jealous friends wandered back with sour looking faces.

They also wandered around the campsite in the dark with a couple flashlights and were talking and laughing loudly at random stories and inside jokes which got people from other campsites yelling at them to shut up. At one point they ended up in the forest that surrounded the RV camp and the boys started telling spooky stories which got Mimi and Sora scared (Skyy enjoyed the stories). Mimi and Sora eventually got them to leave the forest and it took them a while to find the right RV again.

After all that had happened that night it eventually started to get late and some of them were getting sleepy. They decided it was time to head back to the hotel. Sora said goodbye to her aunt and uncle and they all piled up in their cars again. This time Izzy and Skyy had switched places and Izzy was sitting in the front while Skyy was sitting in the back with Tai. As the cars pulled away from the RV and out of the campsite sleep started to overcome Skyy until she noticed something flashing in the review mirror. They were on a road without any sidelights and were quite far from the campsite so there should be no reason to see flashing lights. The only light she should see was the soft glow from Izzy's laptop as he and Matt were trying use the map to find the hotel.

"What are those lights?" Skyy asked, becoming a little more alert.

"What lights?" Tai asked, he sounded more awake then she did. Matt glanced up to the review mirror.

"Oh shit!" he cursed. "Shit, shit, shit…" Skyy was completely awake now and sat up straight.

"What? What is it?"

"It's the cops…" Matt muttered as he slowly started to pull over. Skyy's eyes widened as she whipped around to look out the back window. Sure enough, a white cop car was tailing them from behind with its lights flashing. Mimi and Sora were behind them but they pulled over noticing that Matt had done the same. Izzy rolled down his passenger window when he noticed the cop coming over on his side. Skyy leaned forward so she could translate for them. The cop came up and stuck his head down to the window and he had a little flashlight as he shawn it inside the car. Izzy and Matt squinted at the bright light.

"How you doin' folks?" the cop said casually as he also peered the flashlight into the back seat which caused Skyy and Tai to squint. Skyy cleared her throat.

"We're alright officer…uhh is there a problem?" Skyy said in English. The man looked at her.

"I believe I was talking to these gentlemen missy," the cop said referring to Matt and Izzy. Matt glanced from the cop to Skyy. Skyy could feel Tai lean closer to her with his fingertips lightly touching the small of her back, he had heard in the tone of the cop's voice and could tell that he was being somewhat rude to Skyy.

"Yes well, these gentleman can't speak English so I'll have to do for now," Skyy said trying not to sound offended. The cop raised his eyebrows.

"Can't speak English eh? So you're from out of town then? Where abouts are you from?" the cop asked.

"Tokyo, Japan…" Skyy answered. The cop whistled loudly.

"Well, that's quite far away! Are you going back to your hotel? Where did you come from?" the cop asked.

"Yes we are, it's in downtown Seattle, the Westen Hotel. We just came from visiting relatives at the RV camp down the road," Skyy answered. The cop nodded.

"Now if it's okay I'd like to see some identification," the cop said. Skyy asked Matt for his driver's license in Japanese and he quickly got it out of his wallet. Skyy handed it to the cop.

"Is it okay even if it's in Japanese?" Skyy asked, knowing the Officer wouldn't be able to read the license.

"Nah, the numbers are the same so I can verify his age, and the fact that this is a genuine driver's license. Is this your car?" he asked.

"No, it's a rental," Skyy answered. The cop handed back the license and Matt quickly put it back in his wallet.

"Now I know it's late and you guys might be a little sleepy, but did you notice that you drifted over the center line a few times?" the cop asked sternly. Skyy relayed this to Matt. He shook his head.

"No, he didn't realize, he was trying to look at the map for the way back," Skyy told the cop whilst pointing at the digital map on Izzy's laptop. The cop nodded.

"Is he the navigator?" the cop asked pointing to Izzy. Izzy looked from Skyy to the cop wondering what he was saying about him. Skyy nodded.

"Yes he is…" she said.

"Right well, just make sure the navigators the one navigating and the drivers driving okay? I'll let you off with a warning but please make sure he keeps his focus on the road and not the map," the cop said as he tipped his hat toward Matt.

"Yes, sorry for the trouble," Skyy said and the officer walked back over to his vehicle. Once the cop drove away Matt and Izzy's nervousness cleared and they sighed heavily.

"Thank god he didn't give us a ticket…I didn't even realize I was going over that line. America is so backwards it's hard driving this way!" Matt muttered.

"Yeah well he just said to make sure you focus on driving and not the map, and that Izzy focuses on the map," Skyy said as she slumped back into the back seat, Tai did the same.

"Ha ha, Matt got in trouble because his driving sucks," Tai teased from beside Skyy.

"Shut up! I'd like to see you do better!" Matt said angrily as he started the car up again. Sora soon called Skyy on her cellphone to ask what happened. She re-told their encounter with the cop and said everything was fine and not to worry. As soon as Matt started driving onto the road again, Mimi, who was driving the other car, pulled off the side of the road and continued driving as well.

As the familiar movement of the car began again Skyy soon drifted back into a sleepy state and leaned her head on the door.

As soon as Skyy woke up they were back in the front entrance of the hotel and Matt was telling them to get out so he could go park the car. Skyy drowsily followed Sora and Mimi up to their hotel room.

It was the same as the night before, after about ten minuets of getting into their room they had washed up and gotten their PJs on. It only dawned on Skyy as she was getting into bed with Sora that they were actually going on the cruise ship tomorrow, they were going to be living on a floating hotel for the next week, starting tomorrow.

"Oh my gosh!" Skyy gasped. Sora turned and gave her a weird look.

"What?"

"We're going on the ship tomorrow!" Skyy said excitedly.

"Uh…yeah? Duh," Sora said rolling over. Skyy smiled as her excitement for her vacation was awakening again. Mimi turned off the side light and the hotel room was covered in darkness. Skyy closed her eyes and even though she was super excited, sleep overcame her and she drifted off to sleep again with the smell of hotel pillows filing her nose.

End – Day Two


	3. Day 3: Saturday

Digimon Adventure 02 – Summer in Alaska

Day Three

KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK!

Skyy woke up with a start. The loud pounding on the hotel room door frightened her awake. Sora and Mimi had been awakened too because they raised their heads and peered from under their covers.

"What the hell was that!" Skyy blurted. Sora shrugged her shoulders.

"I don't know, go answer so we can go back to sleep…"Sora grumbled stuffing her face back into her pillow. Skyy sighed and the pounding sounded again.

"Fine! Fine! I'm coming!" Skyy shouted angrily in English. She swept up from the bed and wandered over to the door. She opened it a little crack and peeked out.

"Finally! You're awake! I was calling and calling but you guys didn't answer!" Tai said crossing his arms. Izzy stood silently behind him. They were both wide awake and all ready dressed with their suitcases behind them.

"Tai! Are you friggen insane!" Skyy grumbled angrily. She didn't want to fully open the door or else Izzy would see her all gross because she just woke up.

"What? I'm **I** friggen insane? Are **you** friggen insane? Do you know what time it is?" Tai asked. Skyy looked down at her wrist watch that she had forgotten to take off the night before. Once she saw the time her eyes widened.

"What! CRAP!" she cursed then slammed the door in both of the boy's faces.

"Meet us downstairs with your luggage!" Tai shouted from the other side of the door. Once Skyy turned the corner both Sora and Mimi were upright in their beds.

"Skyy? What's wrong?" Mimi asked, rubbing her eyes.

"It's almost 11! We're supposed to board the ship at 1! We have two hours to get ready and get our suitcases packed, return the rental cars, and go down to Pike Street!" Skyy said hurriedly packing any of her loose items into her blue suitcase. Mimi's eyes widened.

"What! Oh no!" she said as she bolted from bed, Sora followed suit.

The three girls tried to get ready as quickly as possible. They had wanted to check out the market place on Pike Street today, but at this rate they wouldn't even be able to set foot in it. Skyy quickly showered and got some clothes on. She stuffed all of her stuff into her suitcase instead of doing it neatly because they were short on time.

Just like the previous day Sora and Mimi took a little longer so Skyy left the room with her stuff to meet the boys downstairs. Once she got downstairs she saw Tai and Izzy waiting at the luggage drop off. She waved at them to get their attention and Izzy waved back in recognition. Skyy jogged over to them whilst rolling her luggage behind her.

"Hey, where's your luggage?" she asked, noticing neither of the boys had their suitcases with them anymore.

"Oh, we put them on hold at the luggage holding place…thingy…we don't want to be rolling our luggage around the market place do we?" said Tai with his hands on his hips casually. Skyy beamed.

"Oh! We're still going!" Skyy asked. Izzy smiled.

"Yup, we're not going to come to Seattle and **not** visit the market place," he said. Skyy sighed in relief.

"Yay! I thought because of the time we wouldn't be able to go, because we had to return the rental cars and everything…" Skyy said.

"What do you mean? Matt's returning them right now to the same guy who gave them to us," Tai said. Skyy raised her eyebrows.

"Oh really? Well…that's handy…" she mumbled. Izzy nodded.

"We won't get that much time at the market place though, we might not even be able to go in it…" Izzy said worriedly, Skyy's smile faded.

"Oh…well we'll get to see the outside of it then right?" Skyy said pouting a little bit. Tai chuckled.

"Sure, sure, you really wanted to go, so we'll go okay?" Tai said ruffling her hair. Skyy beamed again.

"Yay!" she squealed, Izzy gave her a soft smile. Izzy and Tai helped get Skyy's luggage checked in with theirs so the hotel would hold them whilst they went out. They had to give up their rooms at 12:00 so they wouldn't be able to keep their suitcases in them anymore. Skyy waited with the two boys for Sora and Mimi and soon Matt came up from the car park to join them as well. As soon as Mimi and Sora showed up and had their luggage checked in as well they walked off for Pike Street. It wasn't a very long walk; Pike Street wasn't that far away from the hotel.

The crowds on the side walk began to thicken as they got closer to the market place. They stopped beside a Starbucks and Sora scanned the small little coffee shop.

"Hey, apparently the first Starbucks ever is on Pike Street! Maybe we should visit," Sora said. Matt shook his head.

"Nah, we won't have enough time to visit, it's too far into the market place. But we're spending practically another whole day in Seattle after we come back from the cruise, so maybe we can go see it then?" Matt suggested, everyone agreed. They were indeed short on time. They would only be able to spend about 20 minuets there before they had to start walking back to the hotel for their luggage.

Skyy loved the whole air to the market place. There were mobs of shoppers and even some groups of people holding up signs and protesting things like gays and soldiers in Afghanistan. Skyy had heard a little about these things at school and the news. But it didn't really concern Japan that much. There was an vintage trolley car station with some old trolleys that were taking people to different places. You could smell all the smells of fish and crab that wafted from under the tents of the market place. Also the famous Market Place sign stood tall with the little clock on the side of it. Skyy took at least 5 pictures of the red sign at different angles to see which she eventually would want to paint. There were tones of little bars and shops located outside the market place that all had their own magical feel. Of course Skyy felt a little silly for thinking that little shops were magical…

Mimi spotted a little crumpet shop across the road beside the entrance to the market place and insisted to go get crumpets. As they walked across the road to the crumpet shop Skyy spotted a boy on the corner street singing and playing a guitar for money. The boy was young, maybe 16 years old. Izzy caught her looking at him.

"What is it?" he asked, trying to get her attention away from the boy.

"Ah nothing! I just think that boy is really cute! Ha ha!" Skyy blushed slightly, "He's so confident to be singing and playing the guitar like that!" she said. Izzy frowned and glared at the boy as his insides started squirming.

"Oh please…anyone can do something like that…he's not that skillful," Izzy fumed. Skyy eyed him not understanding why he was so offended.

"Don't worry! I bet if you got a guitar and practiced, you could be as good as him!" Skyy said patting Izzy's back. Izzy mentally slapped his forehead.

"Uh…that's not what I implied…" he mumbled, but Skyy didn't hear him. They all walked into the café-like shop. Izzy held open the door for everyone and his fingers lightly hovered behind Skyy's back as he guided her in.

The shop was really small with about 10 or 12 little café styled tables with maybe 2 or 3 chairs each. They all split up but sat in tables close to each other. Immediately Skyy started clicking pictures of the inside of the shop.

There were balloons hanging from the ceilings and paintings of scenes from Alice in Wonderland all over the walls. There were also different colored streamers hanging from rafters and lights on the ceiling. Skyy also noticed a bunch of pictures along the walls of photographs of Pike Street back in the 50's. Skyy loved the old photographs and it was amazing to see all the differences from then till now. Skyy sat at a table with Mimi and Tai. Mimi had left to get crumpets for them which left Tai and Skyy alone chatting happily.

"Ahh I'm like so freakin' excited to go on the ship! Seattle's great and all but I'm already a little tired of it," Skyy said as she watched the people walking outside the shop windows. Tai nodded.

"Yeah! No kidding! It's nothing we haven't seen in Tokyo, but I've never been on a cruise before," Tai said sipping his lemonade that he got from the free drinks counter.

"I don't think any of us have been on a cruise ship besides Mimi," Skyy said rolling her eyes and turning to face Tai.

"We definitely should stay up super late tonight!" Tai said. Skyy cocked her head.

"Why?"

"I dunno, wander around, and party? Mimi said there was clubs right?"

"Well yeah…but we won't know anyone…"

"That's why we gotta get a bunch of friends from the teen club and get a big group of people to hang out with."

"But there are already six of us…"

"So? We need more friends! We'll be like a big mob!"

"What's with you and needing a huge **possy** or something? Besides you can't speak English, you wouldn't be able to talk to anyone," Skyy said laughing. Tai shrugged.

"That's why we have you and Meems as translators. The more people the more fun right? Plus you guys were talking about getting guys; we might wanna get some girls!" Tai said referring to what the girls had been joking about at the airport on their first day. Skyy narrowed her eyes.

"We were only joking, well at least **I** was…and don't you **dare** introduce Izzy to any cute American girls!" Skyy hissed, she said the last part in a whisper so Izzy, who was sitting behind Tai, didn't hear. Tai grinned.

"So I can introduce him to cute Irish girls, or cute Australian girls?" Tai snickered. Skyy glared at him, anger and jealousy boiling in her gut.

"Tai!" she scolded bringing her face closer to his, "you know what I mean!"

"Okay okay! I was just kidding!" Tai said rolling his eyes. Suddenly Mimi came up with a small tray with some crumpets on them.

"So sorry, did I interrupt a couple's spat?" Mimi said with a crooked smile as she glanced from Tai to Skyy. Skyy jumped away from Tai, he did the same.

"Huh! What do you mean **couples** spat!" Skyy said and she noticed Izzy turned at the commotion and was looking at her with an odd expression. Mimi looked taken aback.

"Well, I mean you two are super close so I just thought that it was a matter of time—" Mimi mumbled with a flash of emotion in her eyes. Skyy quickly raised her hands and shook her head furiously.

"No way Meems! As if me and Tai would like each other! There's just no way! Right Tai!" Skyy panicked, she didn't want Izzy getting the wrong impression of her and Tai. Tai perked up when she said his name.

"Uh… yeah, obviously, just friends," Tai muttered resting his hands behind his head. Mimi relaxed a little and let out a small sigh of relief. She sat down and gave Tai and Skyy their crumpets. Skyy's face was getting warm but she glanced up and saw Izzy quickly turn his head away and start talking to Sora and Matt. She was getting a little worried now…what if Izzy thought she and Tai liked each other! She'd have no chance! What if Izzy thought that and tried to hook them up! Skyy would never be able to confess to him at anytime after that…not that she was planning to any time soon. What if Izzy **wanted** them to get together? Skyy bit her lip. The thought made her feel…maybe…a little scared?

Skyy shook her head slightly. She was taking this too seriously, she obviously just denied Tai big time so there would be no reason that Izzy should think that, right? She looked up at Tai and could see he was also struggling with inner turmoil like she was. Maybe he was nervous that Mimi thought they liked each other, or maybe he was nervous about Sora? Skyy's head started to hurt so she tried to push the thoughts from her mind and dig in to her crumpet.

As soon as they finished their crumpets they starting heading back to the hotel. They walked back through the mobs of people that eventually began to thin as they got further away. Skyy was walking alone with a couple of her friends in front of her and couple behind her. Suddenly she heard the clacking of Mimi's shoes as she jogged up beside her.

"Hey Skyy!" she said in a cheery voice. Skyy smiled at her.

"Those crumpets were really good right?" Mimi said with stars in her eyes.

"Yeah, they were pretty good," Skyy said. Mimi glanced and her with a little frown

"Um, about before, you know the 'couples spat' thing, I'm sorry if it bothered you so much," Mimi said. Skyy looked up at her.

"Nah, it's nothing, plus I thought you liked Tai," Skyy said smirking and keeping her voice a little hushed. Mimi turned pink, but didn't deny what her friend said.

"Well…I mean…I think I do actually," Mimi mumbled. Skyy's eyes widened.

"What! I was just teasing! You actually like him!" Skyy gasped but still kept her voice hushed despite her excitement. Mimi nodded slowly.

"Yeah, I mean I didn't before, but up until a while ago we've been talking more online…and I don't know…something clicked and he seems so grown up and…cool, and he's really nice and sweet to girls," Mimi said turning a little bit pinker as she talked about him more. "And his eyes are reaaallly mesmerizing, and I like his laugh…" Mimi mumbled. Skyy's smile got bigger and bigger as Mimi talked.

"Well, I don't know about grown up, or mesmerizing eyes, but yeah everything else seems to fit the bill. Wow, that's really great Mimi! I'm so happy for you!" Skyy squealed whilst giving Mimi a hug. Mimi giggled with embarrassment.

"Thanks, the only reason I said that thing before at the crumpet shop was to see how you guys would react. I mean I had my suspicions for a while because whenever I talked to Tai online or over the phone, you'd always be there with him," she said. Skyy made and 'o' with her mouth.

"Ohhhh, I see. Nah there is no way in hell I'd ever have those kinds of feelings for Tai! We're best friends and that's that. We just hang out a lot because its fun. It's kinda like he's my brother so we're always together. But not to worry I will never have **feelings** for him," Skyy said smiling happily. Mimi smiled back.

"Well that's good…but well what if Tai likes you?" Mimi mumbled again. Skyy's mouth dropped.

"What! No way! I unbelievably, **seriously** doubt that! Besides, Tai already knows who I like and he's even trying to help me out…"Skyy said. It was Mimi's turn to be surprised.

"You like someone? Oh my gosh Skyy why didn't you tell me? Does anyone else besides Tai know!" Mimi said getting all wiggly and excited. Skyy chuckled.

"Only Umimon knows… I guess I didn't tell you because I didn't have the need to," Skyy shrugged. Mimi rolled her eyes dramatically.

"Well jeez Skyy! We're girlfriends you need to tell me these things right away!" Mimi scolded. Skyy shrugged her shoulders again. Mimi got a little closer and cupped her hand beside the her mouth.

"Soo, tell me! Who is it!" Mimi asked. Skyy felt her face heat up again.

"Uhh…well it's a guy…" Skyy stalled. Mimi frowned.

"Well, yeah no duh!"

"Heeey, what if I was a lezbo? I could've said it was a girl! So you can't say "no duh"!" Skyy said. Mimi pulled away a little bit.

"If you were a lesbian, believe me, I'd already know," Mimi said. Skyy laughed.

"True, true," she said. Mimi huffed and crossed her arms.

"Fine! I can tell when someone doesn't want to tell me something! I'll leave it at that," Mimi said as if all the fun in the conversation had gone completely. Skyy put her palms together and bowed slightly.

"Sorry Meems!" Skyy said. Mimi just waved her off with her hand.

"Whatever, but you will tell me eventually!" Mimi said.

As they reached the hotel they quickly checked out their luggage and went back to the entrance to hail some taxis. Once they got two they piled their luggage in and headed for pier 4, which was where the boat was departing from. As they got closer Skyy kept trying to see around buildings for the cruise ship. Once they were about 5 minuets from the pier and huge mass of white appeared from behind a building and Skyy took a deep breath.

The boat was huge. Like, huge is an understatement, it was gigantic. There were ramps coming from the ship to the pier where passengers and staff were going in and out. A line of flags billowed over the top deck of the ship and Skyy could already see little dots walking along the different levels. She also spotted a huge white screen on the open deck up top where they played movies and sometimes video games for the teens (Mimi had explained that to her). She could see a pool on the top deck just below the screen. Apparently you could go swimming and watch a movie at the same time! There was also a mini pool on the end of the boat and a huge suspended area above the pool that Mimi said was a night club. Also the side of the boat was the crisp image of the Princess Cruise Lines insignia and the name of the boat, The Golden Princess. The windows where fairly big but the lower the deck the smaller the windows got. Some decks had little balcony's protruding from the sides.

Unfortunately Izzy had already explained that the girl's room didn't have a window because it was near the middle of the ship, the boys had one because their room was opposite and was near the side of the boat. Skyy would've liked a window so she could watch the waves as she fell asleep, but hey- your on a cruise ship, you shouldn't be so picky.

Skyy got her camera out and started taking pictures of the ship as they drove closer and closer. As the taxis drove onto the pier they stopped at the drop off and registration area and were surrounded by other passengers, crew members, and taxi cabs. The drop off and registration area was a huge building at the end of the pier beside the boat. They all climbed out of their taxis and the driver's helped take out their luggage. Matt and Mimi stayed behind and paid for the taxis whilst everyone else started rolling their luggage over to some crew members at the entrance of the building. Skyy gazed up at the ship, which looked even bigger close up.

As the teens approached the crew members they noticed the men were giving out room tags. When they asked what the tags were for the men explained that they had to put these tags on their luggage and write the number of their stateroom so the right suitcases were delivered to the right rooms. When they all got tags and attached them to their individual bags a couple of men in bright orange vests rolled their luggage away and put it on a large cart with many other suitcases on it.

The crew members told them to follow the signs and as they all walked inside they eventually ended up in a very large room about a football field wide. There were a bunch of desks and very long lines filled with passengers. This was where you registered your rooms and got your card keys. Card keys were the keys to your staterooms and also cruise credit cards. What you could do is attach your credit card number to your card key and whenever you wanted to purchase something on the ship you would use you card key to pay.

Matt spotted the shortest line and they all quickly got behind an American couple that were snuggling and talking about how **private** their stateroom was going to be. Mimi started explaining what they were doing and how everything was organized. First they would get registered as passengers and earn the keys to their staterooms. Then they would get their boarding passes approved and they could officially board the ship. Then they would find their staterooms and settle in. After that the rest of time they could go explore the ship. The ship officially left port at 4:00 so they still had a while before the ship's engines would roar to life.

Skyy was quickly getting bored waiting in line. They were slowly budging forward. Mimi was going off about all the things on the cruise ship but Skyy had already heard most of this from Izzy on their first day so she eventually started to tune the perky girl out. About half an hour later they eventually reached a desk and a crew member welcomed them happily. It took a little longer than usual because Mimi had to help translate everyone's passports and talk to the crew member to organize who was who and how old everyone was. Skyy would've helped her but she didn't know how these cruise registration things went. Mimi had been on cruises before so she knew what to do.

Finally Mimi and the crew member finished talking and everyone got their boarding passes approved and their room keys registered. Mimi had a gold card whilst everyone else got blue ones. Mimi was the only one who got a gold card because she had been on more than 3 cruises with Princess Cruise lines. She was officially a gold member.

Everyone decided not to connect their credit cards with their room keys and agreed pay for anything they wanted with cash. Skyy figured if she had all of the money in her bank account at her fingertips she would start spending money uncontrollably. As they left the large room they headed for the exit were their boarding passes and card keys would be checked once more and they finally would be able to climb the ramp up to the cruise ship.

As they reached the exit they were all just itching to go on the ship. As soon as the crew member approved their boarding passes and key cards they practically speed walked up the ramp. At the top Skyy stood on her tip toes to see if she could see furthering into the boat. More crew members stood at the end of the ramp and they took the keycards and slid them into a machine that took each of their pictures so that when they got off or back on the ship at ports their picture would show up when the card key was slid into the machine to verify their identification. When the men let Skyy pass she held her breath and walked into the entrance of the grand ship. But as soon as she held her breath it was taken away from her.

They walked right into the middle level of a grand Piazza. The floors of the Piazza were all marble and marble staircases curved from the bottom to the second and third floors. Two elevators could be seen and were covered by glass and a thin sheet of carved wood that had peacocks and flowers and other birds carved all the way up to the ceiling. A violin player played his violin at the base of the elevators and he was surrounded by a small garden with tropical plants and flowers held in marble pots that were melted into the floor.

On the outside of the Piazza was a little cake shop and a sandwich/ soup shop with a baker and chef serving morsels to passengers. On the upper floors were elegantly decorated shops which included a Jewelry shop and Beauty store that sold perfumes, make-up, and souvenirs. On the third floor was the passengers help desk. It also served as the area where you booked tours and excursions at each of the ports visited.

The violin's music drifted all through the grand Piazza and Skyy started taking pictures of every little detail. On the roof of the Piazza was a huge chandelier that looked like giant glass leaves that folded into the ceiling with different colored lights glowing from the inside.

The Piazza was so elegant and all the friends looked over the railings to take in its magnificent ness. Skyy kept clicking picture after picture until she felt and warm arm press against hers on the railing.

"It's beautiful isn't it...? The architectural construction is very well executed and dynamic and it gives off a very eccentric feel," Izzy's voice said. Skyy could tell he was truly amazed at the openness and grandness of the Piazza. Skyy stopped taking pictures for a second to take in the whole scene with her eyes again.

"Yes…it's like we're in a castle and not a ship," Skyy said. Izzy nodded.

"We'll definitely just have to hang out here one day…eat cake and sandwiches and listen to the music, it'd be very relaxing," Izzy said. Skyy nodded.

"Yeah! That sounds great! But the others might not want to," Skyy thought of how the others would want to wander around and have fun and party. Izzy glanced at her.

"Then just the two of us will do it, "Izzy said shyly. Skyy smiled at him.

"Great! It's a date!" Skyy said, Izzy's mouth dropped open.

"W-w-w-w-what! A d-d-d-d-date?" he stuttered as his face got beat red. Skyy laughed at his reaction.

"It's a joke Iz, a joke!" Skyy laughed and took a picture of his flustered face.

"C-mon you two! We're going to find our staterooms!" Tai called suddenly. Izzy and Skyy looked over and noticed their friends had walked further away. They quickly ran to catch up.

On one side of the Piazza were hallways that led to an art gallery and a bar. The other side led to the elevators and past on to one of the two grand dining halls. Mimi then figured out that they were on deck 6 and their cabins were on deck 12, which happened to be one deck below the pool deck. They boarded the elevators and it slowly climbed up to the 12th deck. Once they got off on either side of them were hallways that were lined with staterooms. They read the signs beside the elevators that indicated which rooms were where. They all turned down the hallway to the left of the elevators to start counting room numbers. On the left side of the ship were the odd numbered rooms (A side), and on the right were the even numbered (B side). Their rooms where near the back end of the boat but also near the middle so they weren't directly at the end.

Skyy counted the numbers as she walked. _'A237…A239…A241...A243…aha! A245!'_ Skyy thought and she slid her card key into the slot in the door. The door beeped and she heard the click of the door unlocking. With a great heave she pushed the door open and Sora and Mimi peeked around her to see inside. Skyy skipped into the room and started exploring. Sora and Mimi followed eagerly.

The stateroom was small…but what do you expect? There was a tiny bathroom that was basically a miniature version of a normal bathroom with a small tap, sink, shower, and shelves on either side of the mirror. The only normal sized things were the toilet and the mirror. Opposite the bathroom was a hanging closet to hang clothes that could not be folded like dresses and fancy pants (formal suits). A thin wall was behind the closet and on the other side was a vanity table with a little mini fridge beside it, and a mirror covering the whole flat surface of the wall. Just above the mirror in the corner and close to the ceiling was a little shelf with a decently sized T.V., around 22 inches diagonally. Then across from the vanity table were two twin beds with two little side tables, each baring a lamp that was nailed to the surface. Above one twin bed, a bunk bed was folded down from the wall and the ladder was just resting on the covers.

Skyy again started taking pictures of everything. Sora jumped on the twin bed under the bunk bed.

"This place is so tiny and cute! I call this bed!" Sora said lying down and spreading her arms and legs wide over the covers.

"I know! It's so much better than I imagined! I call the other twin bed!" Skyy said. Mimi came out of the bathroom after inspecting it.

"It's a little bit smaller than what I usually have with Mom and Dad but hey, they were buying 6 tickets for this cruise so I guess they had to get cheaper rooms," Mimi sniffed as she opened and closed the drawers under the vanity table and mumbling something about needing more room for her clothes. Sora and Skyy rolled their eyes.

"Oh please Meems! This room is great! And it's our new home for the next week," Skyy said as she finished taking pictures and jumped on her own bed. Mimi reached up and took the ladder off of the bunk bed which was now hers considering both of the other beds were taken. She hooked it onto the ledge of the bed and climbed up. She collapsed on top and spread her limbs out like Sora had on her bed.

"Wow, I've got to admit though this bed is really comfy!" Mimi smiled in spite of herself. Skyy jumped up off of her bed.

"Who wants to check out the guy's room with me!" she aid, Sora quickly got off of her bed too.

"Me!" she chimed and she headed for the door.

"It's just gonna look the exact same as ours," Mimi said as she got up and started climbing back down the ladder. Skyy shrugged.

"Meh, we're looking for the sake of looking," she said and followed Sora out the door. Mimi straightened out her outfit and followed after.

Mimi was right, the boy's room was exactly the same, except on the wall that the bed's headboards were up against there was a huge round window facing out towards the water. The boy's room was right across from the girls' so it was easy to remember. It was room A248. Skyy walked right through the doorway that was being held open with Tai's shoe (he wedged it under so the door would stay open) and shouted.

"Make way, hot chicks coming through!"

Tai poked his head around from the bathroom and laughed.

"Hot chicks? Huh? Where?" he teased, Skyy hit him playfully. Sora and Mimi filed in after her. Sora greeted Matt first and went to sit with him on his bed which was the equivalent of Skyy's bed in the girls' room. Izzy was lounging on the bunk bed which Skyy assumed was his bed and he already had his laptop on and running. Skyy walked over and stood on her tip toes so she could see over the edge of the bunk bed. Izzy grinned at her.

"Boo!" Skyy said smiling. Izzy chuckled and poked her forehead with his finger.

"You're such a kid," Izzy said, Skyy stuck her tongue out.

"Coming from a dude who's a year younger than me," Skyy smirked. Izzy frowned.

"Shut up…" he muttered. Skyy grinned.

"Hey, you're turning 17 in December, that's not so bad right?"

"Yeah… It still feels like I'm at least two years younger though," Izzy said.

"So? What does age matter?" Skyy asked.

"It matters," Izzy mumbled. Skyy shrugged and glanced at Izzy's laptop screen.

"So, you got good Internet access here?" Skyy said peeking around him. Izzy nodded.

"Yeah, my infrared Internet access is 100% up and running," Izzy smiled at his computer.

"Woo! That's awesome!" Skyy cheered. Izzy smiled.

"So if you ever want to e-mail your folks all you have to do is ask, I can even hook this up to the ship computer printers and print typed documents," Izzy said. Skyy raised her eyebrows.

"The ship has computers? Printers?" she asked. Izzy nodded.

"Yeah, there's an Internet café on the other end near the theater. I investigated everything on this ship before, didn't I tell you about it when we went to the Cheesecake Factory at the airport?" Izzy asked giving her a confused look. Skyy shrugged.

"Maybe, I was so excited I may have forgotten some stuff," Skyy sighed.

"Then I'll just have to tell you everything over again!" Izzy grinned and ruffled her hair. Skyy pouted and fixed her hair.

"Heeey, don't do thaaaat. Anyway we could just go around and explore instead right?" she said. Izzy nodded.

"Yeah, that sounds more suitable," he turned back to his computer and Skyy turned around and sat down on the bed underneath Izzy's.

"Yo whose bed is this cause I'm sitting on it!" Skyy said, Tai came back around from the bathroom and raised a hand.

"Miiiine!" he said and flopped down beside her.

"These rooms are pretty sick right?" Tai said grinning. Skyy nodded.

"Yeah! They're so tiny!" she squealed. Tai chuckled and turned to face Matt and Sora who were on the bed opposite.

"So! Who wants to go explore! Maybe find some food?" he asked everyone.

"Dinner's going to be at seven, we have a seating plan in the dining room," Mimi said sitting on the edge of Matt's bed with Sora and Matt.

"Good! We have plenty of time until then!" Tai cheered and quickly got up from his bed. The movement caused Skyy to bounce up and down a bit on the covers.

"Let's go explore!"

The 6 teens wandered around the ship and seemed to cover almost the entire surface. On the deck above their rooms were the indoor and outdoor pools, and the buffet that was open at all times. On the deck above that was the spa and adult pools (21 and older). The club that was suspended from the back of the boat, now known as the Skywalkers Club, that Skyy had seen earlier was actually the teen club and the ages ranged from 15-21. They all made a mental note to go to the club after dinner. As they wandered they found the two different formal dining rooms (also checking out the menu for that night as they looked), and the grand theatre near the front of the boat. As Izzy had said before there was an internet café just outside of the entrance to the theatre, but you had to pay to use the computers for a certain amount of time. They also found the movie theatre and all of the sports areas. The sports areas included a basketball court, a tennis court, shuffle board, and a jogging track that went around the whole boat. They also found many lounges that had many comfortable looking chairs and a small little dance floors and stages. There were at least three or four different lounges on the entire ship. There was also a steak restaurant and about 10 bars here and there.

After they started wandering in circles and arriving at the same places twice they just decided to go to the pool deck and mingle until dinner. Once they got there they all stood by the railings and watched all the people on the pier. Suddenly Sora gasped and pointed down at the pier.

"Look! We're moving!" she said. Skyy looked more closely and noticed that very slowly the ship was edging away from the pier.

"Wow! I didn't even feel the ship start to move!" Skyy said. Mimi nodded.

"Yeah, the ship moves so slowly that you don't even notice it's already leaving, but as we get out into the ocean it'll go faster and you'll feel it a little bit more, not that much of a difference though," Mimi explained.

"That's incredible, it's so smooth," Izzy said also looking down and watching the pier slowly drift away. He was standing beside Skyy had his arm sort of arched around her body so it was almost like he was holding her waist. Skyy noticed this she immediately got a little happier.

"I know, sometimes you forget you're on a boat until you actually see the waves passing you by," Mimi sighed and leaned against the railing.

"It's kind of hard to believe just a couple days ago we were all just living in our apartments and now we're living on such an extravagant boat for a whole week!" Sora squealed. Mimi just shrugged- she was used to being on cruise ships by now.

The six of them all leaned against the railing chatting softly and watching the pier get smaller and smaller as the boat sailed away.

"Hey! Since we still have some time, let's play truth or dare!" Tai said perking up suddenly. Izzy turned but still had his hands slightly touching Skyy's waist. Tai had a little glint of mischievousness in his eyes which suddenly gave Skyy a nervous feeling. Was he planning something all of a sudden?

"Sure, sounds fun, who's first?" Matt said. Tai hmm'd and after a minute of thought, pointed to himself.

"Me! I'll go first I guess, someone ask me truth or dare!" he said grinning widely.

"I want to ask!" Sora piped up. "Truth or dare?" she asked Tai. He smiled even wider.

"Dare, obviously!" he said putting his hands on his hips. Sora thought for a moment.

"Uummmm…how about…find something and make a cape, then go around telling everyone your superhero name!" Sora said suddenly. Tai's smile faltered a little and everyone else burst out laughing.

"Aww man Tai! You have to do it now, you started it!" Mimi said, smirking. Tai crossed his arms.

"That is a cruel dare…what kind of impression do want me to have on everyone?" Tai mumbled to Sora.

"The total retard, now go do it or we'll announce you the minister of cowards!" Sora said her laughing ceasing as she spoke. Tai's eyebrow twitched at the name.

"Like hell! I'm the crest of Courage! I can do anything! A stupid dare won't stop me! You just watch I'll blow you guys away!" Tai snapped. He took a deep breath and walked away. Skyy, Sora, Mimi, Matt and Izzy all headed up one deck because there was a little balcony surrounding the pool and you could look down and see everyone. They all leaned over the railing to get a good look and Skyy got out her camera and turned it on whilst scanning the small crowd for her best friend. They quickly spotted Tai in between some tables and Skyy started snapping photos of his progress in the dare.

Tai glanced around to make sure no waiters or staff was nearby and quickly snatched a tablecloth off of an unused table. He then tied it around his neck very quickly and raised a clenched fist in the air. Skyy got a close up of his face and noticed he was blushing with embarrassment already.

"I am Ramen Man!" he shouted suddenly in Japanese. All of the girls burst out laughing and Izzy and Matt were trying to hold in theirs as best they could.

"R-ramen Man! What a stupid name!" Skyy gasped between bursts of laughter. Her stomach was already starting to hurt from laughing so much. Still she managed to keep her camera steady and take pictures of Tai. He started running around with his fist in the air and his other fist on his hip. He would stop at random passengers and shout "I am Ramen Man!" in their faces before running off to some other passengers. Everyone on the pool deck looked unbelievably surprised and some were laughing. Tai almost got halfway around the deck before some crew members rushed over to him and told him kindly to please stop his behavior. Tai's face was beat red with embarrassment as he handed over the table cloth and trudged up the stairs and over to his cruel friends. Skyy held up her camera.

"That was a good show Tai! Good thing I got it all on camera!" she sniggered. Tai glared at her.

"Okay, I have officially embarrassed myself in front of the entire ship and am probably on the hit list of the crew members, now it's my turn!" Tai snarled. Everyone was still giggling. Tai huffed and crossed him arms.

"Okay, okay, shoot. Who do you pick?" Sora said fanning herself because she was laughing so hard.

"I'm asking all of the girls! Truth or Dare!" Tai said. Mimi, Skyy and Sora all raised their eyebrows. They all glanced at each other and it was almost as if they all read their minds.

"Truth, after that little display there is no way we're picking dare," Mimi said. Tai smiled.

"Good, I knew you'd say that!" he said. "My question is: if a guy was to get your attention because he likes you, what would be the most romantic way for him to do it?"

The girls stared at him.

"Seriously? That's all? After we made you do that dare this is the question you ask? It's too simple! What's the catch?" Skyy said with suspicion in her eyes. Izzy perked up a little and gave Tai an odd expression. Tai shook his head.

"No catch," he said, still smiling. Sora shrugged.

"Well I guess for me it would be a straight out confession. There's nothing more romantic than a guy who can show you his feelings straight out and not be afraid of embarrassment. A guy that is strong enough to except whatever your answer may be," Sora said simply, giving Matt a quick glance. He noticed it and a light pink dusted his cheeks. Tai nodded and turned to Skyy and Mimi for their answers. Mimi fidgeted with her fingers a little before opening her mouth to answer.

"Well…I guess for me it would be straight out too, but not directly…something out of the ordinary, like perhaps in a song or something. Or maybe written in the sky," Mimi said. Tai nodded and turned to Skyy.

"A riddle," Skyy said simply.

"Huh? What do you mean a riddle?" Tai asked.

"Like, sending a series of notes with riddles on who the sender is and then eventually either the girl would figure out who it is or they'd appear suddenly and confess that way, it's a mysterious kind of romantic thing that would always keep the girl on her toes," Skyy explained. Tai raised his eyebrows.

"Wow, didn't think you were into that kind of thing," Tai said.

"Well if you say it directly it's kind of boring, no offense Sora or Mimi," Skyy said.

"None taken, that's a neat idea Skyy. Kind of like something from a shoujo manga!" Sora giggled. Skyy blushed slightly.

"You've thought of this kind of thing before haven't you?" Tai smirked and Skyy blushed a little deeper.

"No I haven't! Shut up!" she said turning away from him and stomping off to lean over the railing facing the water. Tai chuckled.

"Anyway, are we still playing the game?" Matt asked. Tai shook his head.

"Nah… I've achieved my original motive!" Tai said resting his hands above his head. Izzy gave him a quick glance. Sora and Mimi left to go stand with Skyy and watch the water. Soon the guys went over too and they stood watching the ship sail away from Seattle. Izzy returned to standing next to Skyy and put his arm back around her waste- a little protectively this time. Skyy was mentally swooning at the feel of his arm around her. Tai, Matt and Mimi started to resume playing truth or dare, but just sticked to asking truth questions.

Suddenly the ship's horn honked extremely loudly as the boat left the harbor and gave all of them a little jolt. The ship was about halfway out of the harbor now and was saying goodbye to Seattle. Seagulls would fly around the top until the ship was too far away from land for them to follow anymore. Sometimes little sailboats with people on them would drift by and they would wave up at the passengers on the cruise ship. The digidestined friends hollered hello's back at them and waved as well.

As the sun started to set, the brilliant colors started to paint themselves across the sky and got more vibrant as the sun got lower to the horizon. The six teenagers were so taken with the setting and watching Seattle fade away that they barley noticed the time.

When Matt finally checked his watch he gasped at the time.

"Holy cow! It's almost seven, dinner's gonna be soon," Matt said everyone snapped out of their dazes. Izzy looked down at his clothes and bit his lip.

"Does anyone need to return to the rooms or are we just going to dinner dressed presently?" Izzy asked everyone, referring to how they were dressed. They weren't really sure if they were supposed to dress formally in such an elegant dining room.

"It doesn't really matter what we wear in the dining room except on formal nights when you have to dress all fancy," Mimi said shrugging.

"So I guess we can just head down there now then?" Tai asked, everyone nodded except for Izzy.

"Uhh, I'm just gonna turn back to the cabin for a moment, I'll meet you there!" Izzy said removing his arm from Skyy's waist and turning to leave.

"Oh! Our table number is on your key card so you'll know where to find us!" Mimi yelled as he jogged down to the rooms. He waved back in recognition. Skyy suddenly felt a little bit colder as his warmth left but waved goodbye anyway.

It took them all a minute to remember which direction their dining room was in. it was the same dining room that was just beside the Piazza when they first boarded the ship. When they arrived at the entrance there was already a small crowd of passengers waiting to be seated. They didn't have to wait very long before a kind waiter led them to their table. They had a very nice table. It was big and round so it could fit all six of the teens and it was right next to a window so they could watch the sunset and the water sailing by. Waiters were bustling around taking orders and disappearing and reappearing with trays of food. On the ceilings of the dining room where many twinkling lights that resembled stars. Skyy recognized them as the little twinkling lights that are usually on the ceilings of limos.

A waiter came shortly after they all sat down and handed out menus as the assistant waiter took their napkins and placed them on their laps.

"Hello, Welcome to the Golden Princess Grand Dining room! I am Gabrielle and I will be your waiter during this fine voyage. This here is Habier and he will be your assistant waiter, now to start is there anything I can get you fine people to drink?" Gabrille said. He was very tall with short blonde hair and striking blue eyes. He had a slight Russian accent. Habier was a Mexican man and was shorter with black hair.

Mimi and Skyy started translating orders and Gabrielle disappeared to go get their drinks whilst Habier started filling their cups with ice water.

Izzy came just is time for Gabrielle to take their orders. Once again Mimi and Skyy helped translate all of their friend's orders. The dinner was very nice and the food was delicious. Skyy had tortellini and spinach soup with mozzarella for an appetizer, home-style chili with rice and sour cream for a main course, and a sugar free moose cake for dessert. Everyone kept gushing over how good the food was except for Mimi because she was used to it. Skyy took pictures of all the neat little desserts. They all had little decorations on them and little chocolate sauce designs on the plates.

It was a little strange though at the end when they were finished and they didn't have to pay a bill because all of the food was already added to the cost of the cruise. They said goodbye to Gabrielle and Habier and headed back to their staterooms.

Skyy had never felt fuller in her entire life! She was definitely going to gain weight on this cruise. Mimi had warned all of them about that. She said that it was very easy to gain weight on a cruise because so much food is available 24/7. Skyy vowed to do a couple laps of the jogging track a much as she could during this cruise, or maybe all the walking she was doing to get everywhere would be enough.

The girls were surprised to see their suitcases sitting outside their door when they got back to their stateroom, the boy's weren't there and Skyy had assumed that Izzy brought them in before when he went back to his room before dinner. The boys decided to do a little wander around and meet the girls at the teen club for 10:00. Skyy sighed heavily as Sora slid her room key into the slot on their cabin door. Sora grabbed the handle of her suitcase and tugged it in through the door and inside. Mimi did the same with her pink suitcase and pulled it in after Sora. Just as Skyy was about to follow them in with her suitcase a stewardess came up and tapped her on the shoulder.

"Um, excuse me, are you Skyy?" the stewardess asked. Skyy turned to face her.

"Huh? Yeah I am" she said in English so the woman would understand her. The woman started reaching for something in her pocket. Skyy watched her curiously wondering what she wanted with her and why she knew her name.

"Oh great! I am the stewardess in charge of the cleaning of your room! A young boy around your age I suppose came by earlier and asked me to give this to you, He didn't want me to tell you who he was but he was very dashing I might say," the woman said handing Skyy a piece of folded paper. Skyy raised her eyebrows and took it eagerly.

"Oh thank you! If you see him again can you confirm that I have it?" Skyy asked politely. The woman nodded and hobbled off back to her cleaning cart further down the hall. Skyy looked down at the paper in her hands.

"Hmm, that's weird…" she mumbled in Japanese and rolled her suitcase through the door and up to the side of her bed.

"What did that lady want?" Sora asked. Her suitcase was open on her bed and she was unpacking all of her neatly folded clothes.

"She said some dude wanted to give this to me and he didn't want her to tell me who he was," Skyy mumbled. She lifted her suitcase with a grunt and flopped it on top of her bed.

"ohhh a secret love note? Weren't we just talking about that before dinner?" Mimi asked. She was over by the closet hanging up some of her dresses.

"Oh yeah! Maybe some guy thought you were hot and overheard you saying your answer to Tai's question up on the deck!" Sora squealed sitting up and huddling over to Skyy.

"I don't think it's a love note…"Skyy mumbled. Mimi walked over too to see the note.

"Quick open it and let's see!" Sora squealed getting a little closer. Skyy unfolded the letter. It was a hand written note. Skyy read it aloud.

"**I just want you to know; I admire you from afar, but am closer than you think. Signed, X**" She read in English, for the letter was written in perfect English. All three girls stood quiet for a second. Then Mimi erupted in squeals and laughter.

"Oh my god Skyy! Only a couple hours on a boat and you've already got boys knocking on your door!" Mimi giggled. Skyy blushed at the note. Sora tugged on Skyy's arm.

"What! What does it say?" Sora asked excitedly. Mimi translated it using a deep baritone voice as if she was imitating a guy. Sora squealed after and gave Skyy a big hug.

"Yaay! Skyy you have a secret admirer! This is so cool!" Sora squealed loudly. Skyy was still speechless staring down at the words. Was this possible? She hadn't even been on the boat for that long, unless someone had secretly been following her. That was a creepy thought. Still, Skyy started to feel a little more attractive because she had gotten this note. At first she thought maybe it was for Mimi or Sora, but the stewardess did say that the note was for a "Skyy".

"Eeee! Let's go find the guys and tell them!" Mimi said happily and starting to head for the door. Skyy's head snapped back to reality in a second.

"No!" she gasped grabbing Mimi's wrist. Mimi turned and gave her a surprised look.

"What? Why not?" She asked. Skyy bit her lip. She didn't want Izzy finding out about this X guy. She had to keep it a secret.

"Just…don't tell the guys, I don't want them to know. Besides wouldn't it be better to just keep it a secret between the three of us?" Skyy said. Mimi's face lit up.

"Oh yeah! That sounds better! Okay, I won't tell anyone!" Mimi said, Sora mimicked promising she wouldn't tell. Skyy sighed in relief. She appreciated the note, but she already liked Izzy…she would probably have to turn this guy down but she'd have to find out who he was first.

Skyy hid the note in-between the pages of her sketchbook. She didn't want anyone to find it and people don't usually sneak through sketchbooks. The girls changed clothes for the sake of changing clothes and as it came closer to 10:00 they headed up to the Skywalkers teen club.

Skyy wore a jean skirt with fish net tights and long black boots. She wore a white tank top with dark blue feather designs on it and four long golden chained necklaces around her neck. She decided to keep her hair down a wear two large golden hoop earrings.

Skywalkers was all decked out for welcoming the teens. Different colored lights shawn all over the glass dance floor and music pumped from the DJ table. Many teens – all of different ages- were already sitting and chatting and playing board games at all of the tables and benches. The three girls quickly found the boys lounging on some cushioned benches right beside the window so they could look down at the small pool below and the waves coming from the back of the ship. Skyy was pleased to see Izzy's face when he saw her in her outfit. He had a light blush and his eyes didn't leave her for a full minute until Tai nudged him out of his trance.

Not too long after the girls arrived did the supervisors start quieting everyone down and turning down the music. A larger woman with blonde hair took a microphone from the DJ table and cleared her throat. She introduced herself as the head supervisor of the teen club and asked everyone to participate in an "introducing game". Everyone would pass around the microphone and would say their name, where they were from, and something about themselves. As the woman passed the microphone out, the 6 friends listened as everyone introduced themselves. Mostly everyone was from America, but some were from Australia, Canada, and even Ireland. When the microphone got to the little group Skyy was the first to grab it.

"Hi! I'm Skyy Tsutsumi and I hail from the tiny land of Japan!" Skyy said in clear English. Some people ooo'd in the audience and some random dude yelled "konichiwa" really loudly. Because he'd said it a little wrong Skyy laughed between speaking. The blonde woman gasped at how far Skyy had come.

"Ummm, I guess one thing about me is…I lived in Canada for 3 years before moving back to Tokyo," Skyy said shrugging and not thinking of anything else to say. Mimi quickly grabbed the microphone.

"And she's a friggen INSANE painter! She's reaaaallly good" Mimi said in English, some people in the audience chuckled and Skyy's face heated up a little bit. Izzy and Tai beamed at her but she didn't notice. Skyy snatched back the microphone.

"Yeah whatever!" she said into it. Skyy then turned and pointed to each of her friends.

"Now because not all of us speak the best English I shall introduce everyone else to you," Skyy started, "This is Tai, his hair is too big for his own good, this is Matt, he's too cool for his own good, this is Sora, she's too pretty for her own good, and this is Izzy, he's too smart for his own good," Skyy said. Mimi snickered and quickly translated what Skyy said to each of her friends. Tai frowned.

"Heey! My hair isn't that big! I got it cut!" Tai whined in Japanese.

"Whatever, it's still huge, you don't know the meaning of **short** hair," Skyy answered back in Japanese. Some people in the crowd chuckled but most had confused looks because they didn't know what Tai or Skyy had said. Skyy held the microphone back up to her mouth.

"Anywaaaay, we're all from Japan! Except for this daaarling right here who is an American," Skyy said passing the microphone to Mimi as some Americans in the crowd cheered. She took it happily.

"Yeah, Hi I'm Mimi! I'm Japanese but I live in New York! One thing about me is that I've gotten offers to be a model and I'm only 16!" Mimi said flaunting off her talent. Skyy quickly grabbed the microphone back again.

"Soon to be 17 on Thursday! Happy Birthday Meems!" Skyy cheered into the microphone. Some people wow'd at Mimi's talent and some shouted happy birthday. Mimi grinned and blushed slightly as she handed the microphone to a boy standing next to her.

After the crowd of teens had all introduced themselves the woman supervisor explained that they could basically do whatever, dance, play board games, play air hockey or foosball, or just hang out. There was going to be a foosball tournament a little later on and around 1:00 they were going to go out on the pool deck and play Guitar Hero on the big movie screen.

A couple of random people came up to talk to the 6 friends after the introducing game, but only two boys and three girls actually stayed to hang out with them. The boys were both brothers and they were 16 and 19 years old, their names were Aaron and Brandon and they were from Seattle. The three girls were all very bubbly. Two of the girls were American and one was from Canada. The girls' names were Hailey, Naomi, and Sara. Hailey and Sara were both 18 and Naomi was 15, she got along well with the 16 year old Brandon from Seattle.

All 11 of them got along very well, Izzy and Aaron talked together a lot and Mimi, Sora, Hailey, and Sara got along very well. Skyy didn't talk to them much because they were talking about shopping and girl stuff which Skyy found boring. Skyy mostly talked with Tai, Matt, Izzy and Aaron. Brandon and Naomi were more interested in talking to each other. As time passed the teens played the odd board game or danced on the dance floor.

When the foosball tournament started Matt and Skyy signed up to be on a team together. As they played a small crowd formed to watch. Skyy and Matt had a quick victory and everyone cheered as they creamed all the opposing teams. Matt and Skyy also cheered and gave high-fives as they received little silver Princess Cruise's medals. The two of them were crowned foosball champs and even after the tournament people kept asking for foosball matches.

The 6 digidestined friends were having a blast and Skyy didn't remember the last time she laughed or had so much fun in one day. She seemed most happy though when she was dancing with her guy friends which also included her newfound guy friend – Aaron, who kept asking to dance with her. Skyy would accept his dance proposals but they didn't end up dancing together for long before either Tai or Izzy would butt in and steal her away. Aaron would always come back and start dancing with Skyy though, which did become slightly annoying after a while but Skyy never refused his dance offers.

As 1:00 neared at least half of the teens who were originally there had gone to bed or left to do something else. The 10 new friends stayed though because they were waiting to play Guitar Hero on the big screen outside. Naomi was the only one who left early, saying her parents would be expecting her. Brandon was a little saddened at her leaving but he hid his feelings well.

As soon as the woman supervisor announced it was time for Guitar Hero, Skyy quickly bounced up and was eagerly waiting for everyone to shuffle outside. It was dark outside and it was a little windy but they were all allowed to go get coats and jackets before going out on the deck.

Skyy had played Guitar Hero many times at Tai's house, but it seemed so much more epic on the huge screen on the pool deck. There were two guitars so people had to take turns playing. Meanwhile for the people who were waiting they just stood in little groups and goofed off. Skyy and Tai kept creaming people until Aaron finally beat Skyy. Tai quickly beat Aaron though and kept rubbing it in his face.

They didn't stay outside for very long until it got too cold and too late. Izzy and Sora were yawing every five seconds and the 6 original friends finally decided it was time to hit the hay. They said sleepy goodbye's to their new American friends and headed down one deck to their staterooms.

When they got down to their rooms the girls said their good nights to the boys and filed into their own cabin. Skyy collapsed onto her bed and Mimi was in the bathroom with her toothpaste, toothbrush, and face wash within 3 seconds of coming through the door. Sora changed quickly into her PJs and squeezed into the bathroom with Mimi.

Skyy rolled over on her bed and spotted the remote control for the television. She grabbed it and clicked the T.V. on. She flipped through the channels until she found Wall-E on the kid's channel. She stayed there and hoisted herself off of her bed to get changed and ready to sleep.

The rest of the night was short. After the girls had changed into their PJs and washed up, they watched Wall-E until one by one they all fell asleep. Mimi was the last one awake so she turned off the T.V. and darkness filled the room. The only light that was visible was the very small sliver of hallway light coming in from under the stateroom door. The light creaking and swaying of the ship could be heard as the three girls were rocked into a deep sleep. Meanwhile in another room, somewhere, a teenage boy was planning what to write in his next secret letter to the beautiful girl with golden hair.

End – Day Three


	4. Day 4: Sunday

Digimon Adventure 02 – Summer in Alaska

Day Four

Skyy woke up with a jolt as the cabin shook around her. The room was completely dark and both of her two roommates were silent. The shuddering stopped suddenly and Skyy could feel the intense rocking motions of the ship as she lay stiff under the covers.

Skyy's eyes were wide and her heart was beating rapidly. She had been scared awake and was still getting over the shock. The boat shuddered fiercely again and Skyy could feel and hear everything in the room shaking. Then, just like before, the shuddering stopped and the deep rocking motions took over.

Skyy bit her lip. Were such big ships supposed to rock this much? Was it going to be like this the entire cruise? Her heart was still thumping in her chest and a slight hint of fear started to grip her. Skyy peeked over at Sora in the bed opposite her. It was very dark in the room but Skyy could see that Sora was still with her back facing her.

"Sora...Sora are you awake?" Skyy whispered. Another shudder shook the room and Skyy gripped the covers between her fingers. When the shuddering stopped Sora shifted a little.

"Yeah…." She mumbled.

"What's happening? Why is the ship shaking so much?" Skyy whimpered.

"I don't know…." Sora replied in a sleepy voice. Skyy shifted in her bed to see if she could see Mimi in the bunk bed above Sora. Skyy's eyes still hadn't adjusted to the darkness so all she could see was a dark void.

"What time is it?" Skyy asked in a hushed voice.

"It's almost 8:30 in the morning," Mimi's voice said from the darkness. Skyy's eyes widened.

"Really? It seems like its still nighttime…"Skyy mumbled. Once again another shudder shook the room and just when it stopped Mimi's weight began to move from her bed. Skyy listened as Mimi sat up and slowly climbed down the ladder from her bed. She heard her start to move around until suddenly a dim light lit up the room. Skyy squinted, and then she saw Mimi in her nightgown standing by the vanity table across from the beds. She clicked the light above the table on then moved into the bathroom, stumbling a bit on the way because of the rocking motions. Sora shifted in her bed and sat up, rubbing her eyes awake. Skyy blinked a few times to get used to the light and looked around the room.

It still felt like it was nighttime but that was probably because Skyy couldn't see the sun, considering they didn't have a window in their room. As Skyy heard the water start to run in the bathroom another shudder ripped through the entire boat until it stopped and Skyy heard Mimi stumble in the bathroom.

The rocking motions were much more intense then the night before. The previous night the rocking was very subtle and you could barley feel it. But now it was intense up and down swaying motions that Skyy could feel when she was just lying down.

Once Mimi was in and out of the shower she quickly rapped herself in a towel and sat at the vanity table. It wasn't until she stopped moving and started breathing very deeply that Skyy noticed something was wrong.

"Meems are you okay?" Skyy asked. Sora had already gotten up and was in the shower. Skyy was lying in bed waiting for Sora to finish in the bathroom. Mimi shook her head slightly.

"No, it's nothing…my stomach's just getting a little squirmy from the rocking," Mimi said as she took another deep breath. Skyy sat up a little bit.

"I don't feel that bad…"she said. Mimi smirked a little.

"Believe me; I'm not normally like this. I've never been seasick before…I've got a stronger stomach than that…but…the ships never rocked this much before," Mimi said in between breaths. And as if on cue a little ding dong sound echoed throughout the room and halls as the ship's intercom came on.

"Hello this is your Captain speaking from the Brig; the weather seems very lovely this morning with a high of 70 degrees, and moderate winds. But most passengers seem quite disturbed with the swaying and rocking of the ship," a British voice echoed throughout the inside of the ship. "We are sorry for the disturbance but the rocking is caused by the northern ocean currents in this costal area. The rocking won't last for a large amount of time, probably only until 6 or 7 o'clock this evening, once again we are very sorry for the disturbance and we hope you have a pleasant day otherwise on the Golden Princess," the voice finished and another ding dong sounded as the intercom turned off.

Skyy sighed deeply. After a while Sora got out of the shower and she and Mimi started getting ready. Sora had started feeling a little queasy as well but she continued getting ready for the day anyway. Skyy didn't think much of their queasiness. Skyy knew she had a strong stomach and had also never gotten sea sick before. She thought she would be totally fine. But when she started moving around the room and into the shower, as the ship rocked and shuddered more and more, a slight uneasy feeling started in the pit of her stomach. Skyy stood still for a moment in the shower but the uneasiness stayed. Skyy shrugged it off thinking it would go away, but when she got out of the shower and started getting dressed she started feeling like she was going to be sick.

All three girls were moving slowly that morning. Talking pauses in between things like brushing hair or putting on make-up so they could take a couple of deep breaths to keep from throwing up.

But the rocking seemed a little too much for Sora because halfway through drying her hair she suddenly bolted for the bathroom. Skyy squinted when she heard Sora's hurling sounds coming from the bathroom. Clutching her stomach slightly she started taking deeper breaths to stop the urges her stomach was giving her.

Sora came out of the bathroom shortly after washing her mouth and face and brushing her teeth again. Even after being sick, she still continued to dry her hair. Mimi was putting on make-up and Skyy was sitting on her bed.

"Guys…I don't think I'll be able to go upstairs with you…" Skyy mumbled. Mimi looked over at her.

"What? Why not? Feeling too sick?" Mimi asked worriedly. Skyy nodded.

"Yeah…I feel like if I start moving around I'm just bound to puke my guts out," Skyy explained. Mimi bit her lip.

"But if you go up stairs and start walking around, you'll get used to it and the uneasiness will go away," Mimi said. Skyy shook her head.

"That's if I even make it upstairs before being sick," Skyy snorted.

"Okay…we'll tell the guys, but…maybe later… try coming upstairs okay? It will be good for you," Sora said turning the hairdryer off and brushing her short red hair. Skyy nodded even though Sora probably wasn't looking at her.

"We're going to go upstairs and get some breakfast with the guys…we'll come down later to check on you if you haven't come up, okay?" Mimi said. Skyy nodded again.

Once the girls were both done getting ready they stumbled out of the room, leaving the do-not-disturb sign in the key slot. Skyy didn't bother changing back into her PJs and tied up her hair into a messy bun. She curled back up into her bed and clutched her stomach. She tried getting her mind to wander away from her stomach and the rocking of the boat. Soon her sleepiness returned and she drifted off to sleep…

Tai sat down at the table with a thump as the rocking of the boat made him sort of stumble into the chair. Luckily he didn't drop his plate of breakfast. Matt and Izzy sat around him with their plates as well.

They were sitting in the buffet and many of the tables were emptier than usual. When Tai and the rest of his friends had come up to check out the buffet yesterday, the place was packed with passengers gobbling down food. But this morning, the crowd seemed to have been cut in half.

Tai looked down at his food just as the boat shuddered for the billionth time. Suddenly the food didn't look very appetizing but Tai took his fork and started eating anyway. Just then Mimi and Sora walked up and sat down in two empty chairs. Izzy and Matt both looked up from their food.

"Hey girls, what's up?" Matt asked through a mouthful of food. Sora shrugged.

"Besides puking and having to hobble around the whole ship, not much," Sora groaned. Matt swallowed his food then reached over to rub Sora's back.

"Aww, don't worry, it's not that bad when you actually see the waves and walk around a little more," Matt said and he lightly rubbed Sora's back in a smooth motion. Tai looked up at the two girls and noticed Mimi first.

She was wearing a cute frilly pink top with dark skinny jeans that highlighted her long thin legs very well. She had a cute little white hat on over her hair with a couple red and orange buttons on the side. Tai suddenly realized how cute she looked and couldn't stop staring at her as she talked with Matt and Izzy. Then she looked over at him and noticed him staring at her. She jumped somewhat and have him a weird look.

"What are you looking at?" she said. Tai blinked stupidly and shook his head slightly.

"Ah…sorry it was nothing," he said nervously.

"Just take a picture next time," Mimi said giving Tai a crooked smile. Tai turned red.

"W-w-w-what!" he stuttered. Mimi turned a little pink as well.

"Ha ha! It was a joke! Your stuuupid," she said quickly. Tai frowned and changed the subject. He had to get over the embarrassment of Mimi noticing that he was staring at her.

"Sooo uhh **anyway**, where's Skyy?" Tai asked the girls, more Sora than Mimi.

"She's not feeling too well and decided to stay in the room, we're gonna go check up on her later though," Sora said.

"That's weird, she never gets sick…well besides the other day at the chocolate factory, but still," Tai said, confused. "I'll come with you to check up on her okay? I wanna see how she's doing," Tai said as he took another mouthful of his breakfast.

"Aww, that's sweet, you're so protective when it comes to Skyy!" Sora squealed. Mimi shifted uncomfortably in her seat. Izzy gave Tai a strange look but resumed eating his food. Tai quickly glanced from Mimi to Sora.

"Huh? What? No I'm not…am I?" Tai turned to ask Matt. Matt nodded silently. Tai cocked his head.

"Oh…I never noticed…" Tai mumbled.

"I think it's really **means** something when a guy is protective over a girl!" Sora sighed dreamily. Tai raised an eyebrow.

"What are you going on about? It doesn't mean anything; she's like a sister to me!" Tai said. Izzy suddenly put down his fork.

"Actually maybe I should go," he said. Everyone looked at him.

"Huh? What do you mean?" Matt asked.

"I mean maybe I should go check up on Skyy," Izzy said. A small blush was starting to form on his cheeks.

"Uh, yeah, we were all going to go," Sora said. Izzy shook his head slightly.

"It's ok, I'll go by myself, then you guys don't have to bother about it," he said. Izzy started to feel his face heat up in embarrassment. How did it look when a guy said he wanted to go alone to a girl's room?

Tai grinned mentally at Izzy's suggestion. Perfect! Why didn't he think of it? Skyy would love the alone time with Izzy. Tai was still on for setting up is two friends during this cruise. Slowly but surely Tai was definitely going to get these two to be a full couple by the last day on this ship. It made him so jealous of the two that they both liked each other but were both way too shy to do anything about it. If one of them just confessed they would have been a couple by now. So Tai immediately thought of something so that Izzy could go to Skyy by himself.

"But we wanted to check up on her too –" Mimi started but Tai interrupted her.

"That sounds good actually; there was something I wanted to check out with everyone up at the teen center. So Izzy goes to check up on Skyy and we go to the teen center, works out perfectly," Tai said.

"Yeah, I'll tell you guys how she's doing after," Izzy said, giving Tai a quick glance. Sora cocked and eyebrow and pointed to Tai.

"But you just said you wanted to check up on her to see how she was doing..."Sora asked. Tai shrugged.

"I can go check up on her whenever I guess,"

"But you were so intent on going,"

"Well I wanted to check something out at the teen center too," Tai said quickly.

"What did you want to check out?" Mimi asked.

"I meant to meet up with Aaron and Brandon and the girls."

"Why do we have to go too?" Mimi asked, frowning.

"It would be more fun with more people right?"

"Yeah, I guess…but Skyy –"

"She'll be **fine**! Izzy's going to see her so she'll be **fine**! Does it really matter that much?" Tai said, annoyed with all the questions and excuses. Silence fell over the table. Matt sighed loudly.

"Maybe you girls should go get some breakfast, you'll feel a little better once you get some food in you," Matt said. Both girls nodded and got up from their seats. Once they got out of hearing range Matt leaned closer to Tai.

"Dude, what's up with you?" he asked. Tai raised his eyebrows.

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"He's referring to why were you so intent on seeing Skyy, then changed your mind in a split second, then totally brushed the whole idea off?" Izzy asked. Izzy was looking down at his plate of food, and eating without looking up when he talked.

"Oh… It's not a big deal. It's just Skyy. So she's sick? Iz will go see how she's doing; it's not essential that I go. He can just tell me how she's doing so it's not like I have to go see her," Tai shrugged. Izzy looked up at him.

"What do you mean 'it's just Skyy'?" Izzy asked, with a slight edge to his voice.

"I don't mean anything," Tai said raising an eyebrow at Izzy's tone.

"So you don't care that she's not feeling well? You don't care that she's all alone in her room?" Izzy asked. Matt stared on the maroon haired boy with a surprised expression on his face. Tai raised his hands in surrender.

"Holy cow, what's your problem dude? I never said any of those things! Why are you making such a big deal about it?" Tai asked angrily. Izzy slumped in his seat.

"I'm not….sorry…just forget I said anything…" Izzy mumbled. Matt looked back and forth between Tai and Izzy. He grabbed his plate and sat up from his chair.

"Man I'm surrounded by weirdoes, you guys seriously need to fix this love triangle going on…I'm outta here, I'll meet you up at the teen center later," Matt said. Tai whipped around to look at Matt.

"What do you mean love triangle?" Tai asked, but Matt ignored him and walked away towards the buffet where the girls were getting their food. Tai and Izzy sat in an awkward silence. Tai looked up at Izzy who was looking at the plate of food again, but this time, not eating it.

"I know you like Skyy, the only reason I changed my mind so quickly was so you could go see her alone," Tai muttered. Izzy looked up at him.

"Yeah I like her, but do you?" Izzy asked. Tai stared at him.

"Wha? Of course I don't she's my best friend! I like - …uhh someone else," Tai mumbled the last part.

"Sora?" Izzy asked. Tai shook his head.

"No…someone else…I think," Tai mumbled.

"Do you like Mimi?"

"No! I mean -…why are we even talking about this?" Tai spluttered. Izzy sat up straight.

"Because...are you really sure Skyy's** just** your best friend?" Izzy asked. Then he sat up and walked away with his hands in his pockets. Tai watched him leave.

"Of course she's just my best friend you idiot! Why the hell would you think otherwise when she's crazy for you?" Tai muttered to himself angrily. He was 100% never going to like Skyy in that way. When he thought of her, yeah he got a warm feeling in his stomach, but it was the same feeling he got when he thought of his little sister, Kari. Skyy was just – like family to him. That's all she ever would be. They were both totally grossed out at the thought of liking each other in that way. So it was never a possibility that they would ever grow those kinds of feelings. That's just the way things were.

Plus…more and more very day Tai couldn't get Mimi out of his head. Whenever he was picking out clothes for the day he'd think '_what would Mimi like?',_ and whenever he saw her he felt all embarrassed and self-conscious and got an electric jolt feeling all through his body. He kept noticing how pretty she looked, or the way her mouth curved when she laughed. Or the way her eyes sparkled when she was really happy or excited. He even started noticing all the little things she did, like how she always sat straight up and never slouched, or that she always looked you in the eyes when she talked to you, or even the way that she always put her fork and knife side by side when she was done eating.

Tai didn't know why, but he started noticing all these little things. And he liked them; he was drawn to her more than he had ever been before. He even would sometimes get urges to hold her hands or hug her from behind. He wanted to hold her, he wanted to play with her hair, touch her face, and kiss her cheek.

Tai's face started heating up as he thought of these things. He remembered what Skyy and Izzy had both asked him.

"_So you like her right?"_

"_Do you like Mimi?"_

Tai thought about it. He came up with one answer in his head and a slight smile curved on his lips.

"Yes."

Skyy awoke to a hesitant knock on the door. Skyy peeked over from her covers and her uneasiness suddenly came back in a split second. Skyy clutched her stomach and groaned quietly. When she was asleep she couldn't feel it, but now she was awake the sickness came rushing back.

The knocking sounded again. Skyy prayed that it wasn't the cleaning lady coming to clean the room. Skyy sat up to get the door and tell the lady to go away, when a faint male voice spoke.

"Skyy? Skyy are you in there? It's me, Izzy…" Izzy's voice said from the other side of the door. Skyy's eyes widened and she bolted from her bed. Her heart thumped in her chest and her face became slightly warmer than before.

'Eek! Izzy's here! He came to see me!' Skyy squealed in her head. Her face broke out into a wide smile. She almost ran past the vanity table before doubling back and checking her appearance in the mirror. Her hair was in a messy bun, but her clothes were fine and her face seemed passable. Skyy quickly skipped to the door and unlocked it. She swung it open and her eyes fell on a surprised Izzy with a white plastic bag in his hands.

He looked incredibly handsome. Skyy couldn't help checking him out up and down. He was wearing a white sweater that had a dark blue stripe going down the side of each sleeve that was rolled up to his elbows. He had a cargo vest on with straps and buttons all over it; it was an army green color. He also had on thin jeans, but not skinny jeans, they showed off how much longer his legs had gotten. On his feet were the same red sneakers he wore on the first day, and he had a couple black and brown bead bracelets on, and a small silver chain necklace on his neck. The whole outfit brought out his black eyes and maroon hair.

"Oh, wow, you came fast…how are you feeling?" Izzy said. Skyy opened her mouth to answer but suddenly something rushed up from her stomach and her eyes widened in shock. She held her hand to her mouth and whipped around and rushed into the bathroom. Izzy rushed in after her with a worried look on his face but Skyy slammed the bathroom door shut in his face. All Izzy could hear from the inside was Skyy's hurling sounds.

"Skyy! Skyy are you alright? Let me in! I can help!" Izzy said, panicking a little. Suddenly the hurling stopped and Izzy heard the toilet flush. He heard Skyy move and the water from the tap being turned on. About a minute later after Skyy washed her mouth and brushed her teeth she unlocked the bathroom door and hobbled out. She refused to look Izyy in the face. Izzy put the bag on the floor and started rubbing Skyy's back like Matt had done to Sora earlier. Skyy lightly pushed his hand away and went to sit on her bed. Izzy frowned and followed to sit beside her. As he fell onto the bed beside her she bounced up a little bit.

"Don't worry it'll be alright, it's habitual for people to get sea sick so you don't need to be upset about it," Izzy said quietly. Skyy sighed.

"That's not it…" she muttered. Izzy wrapped and arm around her shoulders. This time she didn't refuse him.

"What's wrong then? It's okay you can confide in me," Izzy asked looking down to her face. Skyy glanced at him.

"It's…it's just I didn't want to be sick in front of you…you probably think I'm a total loser now…" Skyy mumbled. Izzy raised his eyebrows and chuckled lightly.

"Yeaah, the loser of losers," Izzy gave her a quirky smile. Skyy pouted. Izzy squeezed her shoulders lightly.

"Of course I don't think you're a loser! Why would I? People get sick, it's the way things are," Izzy shrugged. Skyy smiled weakly. Suddenly Izzy got up from the bed. Skyy followed him with her eyes. He went back over to the bathroom and picked up the bag he dropped before.

"Here, I got some medicine, have some – it'll make you feel well," Izzy said taking a bottle of pills out of the bag. He handed them over to Skyy and she turned them over in her hand to read the label.

"You actually brought medicine?" she said with a surprised look on her face. Izzy shrugged and sat down beside her again, this time he rummaged through the bag and took out some cold jel peels.

"Yeah, Joe suggested I bring them in case," Izzy said taking the bottle from her and reading the label himself.

"Oh," Skyy mumbled as Izzy figured out how many pills she should take and clicked open the lid.

"Here, take two for now, I'll get you a cup of water," Izzy said and handed the bottle back to Skyy. He then got up again and headed for the bathroom. He got her a plastic cup filled with water and she swallowed two of the pills from the bottle. When she finished Izzy took off the rapper from one of the jel peels and gave it to her. Skyy smiled lightly and stuck the cold pack to her forehead where it stuck firmly to her skin. She sighed happily and the cold feeling against her warm forehead. They both sat in silence after.

Skyy glanced at Izzy then began fidgeting with her fingers, not knowing what to say next. She bit her lip. She did not want him to leave. She liked the company but he probably didn't want to be with a sick person all day. Still…she wanted him to stay.

"Maybe I should go…you should get some sleep," Izzy said then awkwardly got up and started heading for the door. Skyy hesitated but quickly grabbed the hem of his shirt with her fingers. Izzy jumped and looked back.

"Huh?" Izzy mumbled and Skyy quickly let go.

"Oh! Uh…s-sorry!" she stuttered. Izzy raised an eyebrow. Skyy bit her lip and looked down.

"Um…could you actually…stay with me for a while longer?" Skyy mumbled quietly, but Izzy heard her. Skyy's face started to get red with her embarrassment. Izzy grinned.

"Sure!" he said. Skyy looked up and smiled at him.

"Do you wanna watch T.V.? maybe a movie is on…" Skyy said. Izzy agreed and found the remote on the floor. He clicked the T.V. on and switched through the channels until Skyy spotted Benjamin Button and told him to stop.

Skyy shifted on the bed so she was sitting up against the wall and wiggled her legs under the covers. Izzy glanced from bed to bed and chose to sit on Sora's bed. Skyy raised an eyebrow as he tried to get in a position where he could see the T.V. from under the bunk bead. She laughed as he craned his neck to see. Izzy frowned and looked over at her.

"What?" he muttered. Skyy smiled at him and patted her bed.

"Here, come sit over here, then you can see," she said. Izzy blushed lightly but nodded and moved over to Skyy's bed. He hesitantly sat down beside her, on top of the covers. He put his arm around Skyy's neck and she easily slid her head into the crook of his neck.

Izzy's face got hotter and hotter as she cuddled closer to him. Her head fit so well in his neck.

Skyy's face was getting a little hot too as she felt Izzy's breathing and the warmth of his body, she was afraid her jel pack would get warm to quickly. He smelled good though, like soap, not like the gross men's cologne like Ax or whatever. He just smelled like soap. Skyy smiled lightly. She couldn't help thinking that Sora and Mimi would die if they saw her with Izzy right now. But she didn't want anyone interrupting them now. This was a rare opportunity that Skyy got to be alone with Izzy, also this was the first time she'd been so close to him. Nothing could break her insane happiness right now.

As they watched Skyy found out how to get Japanese subtitles with the remote and they cuddled in silence. About half way through the movie though they both got sleepy and dozed off, Izzy still with his arm around Skyy, and Skyy with her head still in Izzy's neck but with his chin resting on the top of her head. Both slipped into light sleeps and both of their breathing became synchronized.

A couple hours later Skyy woke up. She blinked her eyes a few times to get used to the light and shifted a little until she felt a warm mass beside her. Her eyes wandered over to Izzy who was still sleeping soundly beside her.

Skyy gasped lightly in surprise, but she then suddenly remembered that Izzy had come to see her. She relaxed in his arms. Skyy put a hand on her stomach…it didn't feel queasy anymore! Skyy smiled, glad the medicine had worked. She looked around Izzy and found her watch sitting on the night stand beside them.

"Hmm…what time is it?" Skyy muttered to herself. The watch read 2:15. She raised her eyebrows…they had slept together for a long time. Skyy blushed when she realized she had been sleeping with Izzy all this time. She looked over at his sleeping face. His breathing was rhythmic and his eyes were lightly closed. Skyy raised a hand to touch his face when he shifted his head a little and she snatched her hand back. Izzy scrunched his eyes and slowly opened them.

"Huh…ugggh where am I?" he mumbled sleepily.

"We fell asleep…it's almost 2:20,"Skyy said. Izzy sat up and took his arm from around her neck. He raised his arms in the air, stretching, and yawned.

"How are you feeling?" he asked, rubbing his eyes and getting up from the bed.

"Better, that medicine worked!" Skyy smiled. Izzy sighed in relief.

"That's great!" he cheered. Skyy kicked her legs out of the covers and bounced up off the bed. Izzy smiled at her. He reached out and stroked her hair; this took Skyy a little by surprise.

"I'm glad, you seem like you've returned to normal," Izzy said. Skyy grinned.

"Yep! You better watch out!" she teased. Izzy chuckled and lowered his hand. Suddenly the phone rang and Skyy walked over to go pick it up.

"Hello?" she answered in Japanese, because the only ones who knew her room number to phone was her Japanese friends. Tai's voice answered.

"Hey spud! How'er you feeling?" he asked. Skyy smiled when she heard his voice.

"Better! Izzy came and gave me medicine!" she said happily. Izzy glanced at her when she said his name. He was sitting on the bed and looking through a pamphlet that was stuck in the girls' door the previous night. It was a daily log of all the events being held on the ship.

"That's great! So are you gonna come upstairs now? I hear they got some sushi up at the buffet," Tai said. Skyy beamed.

"Sushi! I'm so there! Izzy and I will go check it out!" Skyy said giving and Izzy a look as if asking him if it was alright, he nodded signaling that it was fine.

"Oh? Izzy's still there?" Tai's teasing voice said.

"Uhh, yeah…we watched a movie…and some T.V.," Skyy said, leaving out the part of falling asleep together.

"Ah I seee, that means you definitely have to come upstairs now! It's not fair that Izzy has had you all to himself for most of the day, so come up and spend some time with your **other** friends," Tai laughed on the other end of the phone. Skyy smiled into the receiver.

"Okay, where are you guys?" she asked.

"We're by the pool, we're with Brandon and Aaron and all them as well," Tai said. Skyy remembered how Aaron acted with her the other night. How he was always trying to get her attention and asking her to dance with him so many times. She didn't mind him, in fact he was a cool guy, it was just that one thing he did that got on her nerves a smidge.

"Ahh…right…Aaron's there," she said. Izzy's eyes flashed over to her from the pamphlet. She didn't see the slight glare in his eyes because her back was turned and she was busy twirling the phone cord through her fingers.

"What? You don't like Aaron?" Tai asked.

"No, it's not that I don't like him, he's a nice guy. I don't mind him at all, it's fine," Skyy said. Tai sighed on the other side.

"It's okay if you don't wanna come up, we'll ditch them," Tai said in a more hushed voice. Skyy assumed that their friends were sitting close by. Skyy shook her head even though Tai couldn't see her.

"No! I said it was fine! We'll come meet up with you guys after we get some food," Skyy said, there was a pause before Tai spoke again.

"Okay…we'll see you soon then?" he asked.

"Yep! See you soon," Skyy answered and they said their goodbye's and hung up. She turned around to face Izzy.

"So! Wanna go get some grub? I'm starving!" Skyy said. Izzy chuckled and got up from the bed.

Skyy quickly fixed her hair, for it was in an even messier bun. She tied it into a ponytail, added a few red clips at the sides and tidy upped her clothes a bit. She was just wearing some skinny jeans and a long tank top with white a red stripes on it. She decided to put on some black arm warmers because Izzy said it had gotten a little bit cooler. She grabbed her camera and her card key and with that they both headed out of the room. Skyy removed the do-not-disturb sign and flipped it over so it said 'service, please'.

As they walked Skyy was incredibly temped to hold Izzy's hand but she decided against it, thinking it was too risky. He might get weird if she was all couple-like with him all of a sudden.

They didn't have to walk very far considering the pool deck was one floor up from their rooms, and the buffet was right beside the pools. As Izzy and Skyy walked they saw their friends sat at a pool table and goofing around. They said quick hello's then left to go find the sushi.

Skyy practically squealed when she saw the little separate tables filled with sushi beside the entrance to the buffet. She didn't get to eat sushi much, even though she lived in Japan. Sometimes her parents would by the pre-packaged sushi at the market, but they got pricey so they didn't buy them very often. Also they only went out to the sushi restaurant for dinner about once every four months. Sushi restaurants were also quite pricey to visit.

So now Skyy was really happy she could get a bunch of sushi without paying for it. She and Izzy grabbed plates and took what they wanted, some chopsticks, and a couple packets of soy sauce. They also got little helpings of wasabi and ginger. They made their way back to their friends and found some extra seats. Sora and Mimi both got up and gave Skyy hugs when she set her food down.

"Skyy! yay! Your feeling better!" Mimi said happily. Skyy hugged her back.

"Yeah! How have you two been? Are you feeling any better?" Skyy asked, looking from Mimi to Sora. Both girls nodded.

"Yeah, once we got up here, ate and walked around a bit we were fine, see! You should've come up with us!" Sora said. Skyy shrugged.

"I didn't want to risk being sick," she mumbled. Also if she had come upstairs with them that morning, she wouldn't have gotten to spend that time with Izzy back in their stateroom. Skyy smiled lightly to herself at the memory. Sora raised an eyebrow.

"What are you smiling at?" she asked and scooted a little closer. Skyy flinched a little bit.

"Uh! Nothing, It's nothing," she said nervously. Skyy turned from Sora and said her hello's to everyone there. Aaron winked at her when she said hi to him and she smiled back awkwardly. He seemed a little different today which gave Skyy a nervous twinge in her stomach. Izzy had already sat down and started eating so Skyy also made herself comfortable and cracked open her chopsticks. Suddenly a long arm wrapped around her shoulders and a knuckle began to rub into the top of her head.

"Heey! Glad to see you're back on your feet! It's no fun when you're not around to amuse us!" Tai laughed. Skyy growled and punched him lightly in the gut. Tai laughed again and let go of her.

"Get off of me loser!" Skyy giggled as she pushed him away.

"Owwww, now Skyy that's not cute!" Tai whined. Skyy snorted.

"Like I care about being cute," Skyy said and she popped a California roll dipped in soy sauce in her mouth. As Skyy ate and laughed and joked with her friends, she was starting to feel 100% normal again and back in the mood to have fun. She ate all of her sushi it about 2 minuets and went back for more.

What surprised Skyy was how well her friends were getting along with the American teens. Since most of them couldn't talk directly to each other because they didn't speak the same language, it should've been harder for them to bond. But everyone seemed to partially understand each other. Mimi had to translate a lot more than normal but Tai, Matt, Sora, and Izzy were doing a good job at using the minimal English they knew to communicate. Now that Skyy was there too of course she was helping in translating with Mimi, but they all still were having a good time. Personality wise, Tai and Brandon should have been twins. Sora and Mimi had loads of girly things to talk about with Sara and Hailey. Noami was more like Skyy and was getting along better with the guys than with the girls, but Skyy assumed that just because she was super cute. Even though she was younger, Matt and Aaron flirted with her a tiny bit (not as much as Brandon did). This got a couple of icy glares from Sora to Matt when she noticed him doing this, but he was very subtle about it and didn't really seem to mean any of it.

Skyy took many more pictures of all of her friends, and her new friends. She also took some pictures of the sky and the water. She even took a picture of her sushi so she could brag to her parents that she got to eat tones of sushi for free.

After Skyy and Izzy finished eating they all got bored of sitting by the pool. Izzy figured out that there was bingo going on in one of the lounges. He had remembered it from reading the daily log back in Skyy's room. Of course he didn't mention reading it **in** Skyy's room.

Not thinking of anything else to do, they all decided to go check it out. On their way there, they saw a bunch of small areas surrounded by caution tape and Tai explained to Skyy that it was all the places where people had puked. Skyy was grossed out and tried walking away from the cautioned areas.

The bingo was in the Egyptian jungle styled lounge called the Vista Lounge. There was a bar at the back of the lounge and Sora ordered a round of cokes for everyone, except for Aaron who ordered an alcoholic drink. Skyy remembered hearing Izzy grumble something about Aaron showing off how old he was. They all bought a pack of bingo cards each. There were 5 games and in each game you got three cards to play from. So in total they had 15 cards each to try and win from. They sat in a big circle on some chairs and couches.

Aaron sat down beside Skyy, she tried to **slowly** shift away from him so he didn't notice, but halfway during the first game he casually slid his hand on her thigh. Skyy jumped and pushed his hand away. When he asked what was wrong she passed it off as being ticklish. When she glanced around to see if anyone noticed, Mimi, Sora and couple of the other girls looked away quickly. But Tai and Izzy were both glaring daggers at Aaron.

Aaron didn't try to make any more moves on Skyy for the rest of the bingo games. Skyy didn't win any of the games, but Matt was one away from winning one game. No one else won any games either. Even after the bingo was announced over, the teens stayed and hung out in the lounge for a while, ordering more cokes to drink. Soon though, Matt realized it was 6:00, an hour away from dinner. When he announced this Mimi gasped and choked on her coke. Tai reached over and thumped her back so she would stop coughing. After she regained her composure she put her drink down on the small glass coffee table in-between all of the chairs and couches.

"Oh my gosh!" Mimi panicked. Sora put her drink down as well and raised an eyebrow.

"What? We still have plenty of time before –" but Mimi cut her off.

"It's formal night! We only have an hour to get ready!" Mimi said.

"What? It's formal night? Since when?" Skyy said.

"Since forever, it was in the daily log…didn't you read it?" Tai asked. Skyy rolled her eyes.

"Oh yeah! I remember reading that whilst I was puking my brains out," Skyy said sarcastically.

"Anyway, we have to go, girls take awhile to get drop dead gorgeous!" Mimi said dramatically getting up. Sora got up too.

"Especially in Skyy's case," Sora sighed. Skyy frowned.

"Hey! Shut up, I take offense," she cursed. Skyy took once last sip of her coke and got up to follow her two friends. She said goodbye to her American friends, and gave Tai, Matt and Izzy quick little hugs before being dragged away by Sora and Mimi.

Once they got back to their stateroom Mimi and Sora attacked Skyy with make-up and found one of the formal dresses she had brought with her. Skyy was squeamish but her friends held her down. Skyy had already given up trying to get away from them, so she just braced herself and let Mimi and Sora play with her appearance. What she'd look like after she didn't know.

As the three girls walked into the dining hall they were surrounded by the scent of gourmet food. Instead of the previous night, the girls went to their table by themselves without being seated because they already knew where their table was. The girls walked up to their guy friends who were already seated. All three boys looked up from their menus and conversations to gawk.

Mimi wore a black short dress with a flowing skirt and skinny shoulder straps. She had her hair up in a bun with some curled pieces coming down on either side. Tai's jaw almost dropped but he kept it up and shut, a light blush tinted his cheeks though.

Sora wore a green tutu styled dress with a sparkly flower right under her shoulder. The dress was strapless and Sora's hair was curled, which made it look a bit shorter than it actually was. Matt beamed when he saw her and his eyes were sparkling.

Skyy was wearing a short brown dress that showed off how thin she was. It had small ruffles in the breast area, but flowed down at the skirt. Is had some sparkles on the skirt and skinny shoulder straps. Her hair was down and some odd pieces were curled, and some were crimped, but most of her hair was its usual straight style. She had a little sparkly clip clipping back her bangs and a simple silver choker necklace on her neck. The only thing that remained totally in Skyy's character was her black finger nails that she had quickly painted when Sora and Mimi weren't looking. Izzy's eyes widened and he dropped the small bun he was eating. He blushed pink and didn't take his eyes away from Skyy's appearance.

The boys had also dressed up. They all had on formal shirts, Matt's was blue, Tai's was white, and Izzy's was orange. They all had on ties and black formal pants as well, no suit jackets though, it was too warm for them. Skyy loved how good Izzy looked in his formal outfit. She thought he looked quite handsome and sharp.

All of the other passengers were also wearing formal outfits and Skyy saw many penguin tuxes on the men. The dinner was mainly the same as the night before though except their waiter Gabrielle and his assistant Habier were more formally dressed as well.

Since the menu was different they all had new food choices to choose from. Skyy ended up ordering a Caesar Salad to start, Pasta with exotic mushroom sauce for her main meal, and the Princess Love Boat Dream for dessert (chocolate moose and brownie cake).

After they had eaten and were stuffed to explosion. They walked out of the dining room and into the Piazza where a bunch of photo booths were open. Photographers stood by large screens and took pictures of the passengers in their formal outfits.

Mimi begged to go take a picture with everyone. Tai automatically agreed and soon everyone else agreed to as well. They waited for a booth to be open and soon the female photographer told them to come over and where to stand or kneel or sit.

The photographer asked them if they were all couples, four of them shyly said "no", Sora and Matt were the only ones who confessed being a couple. Because there was only one couple the photographer scrapped the "couple" photo options.

Once they all got in their poses the photographer started clicking their pictures. They got four photos so the photographer did one with all of them, one of just the girls, and one of just the guys. On the last picture they all got in together again, but just before she clicked the picture they all got into goofy poses or made funny faces. The woman clicked the picture and laughed when she realized their change in positions.

When the photographer was finished the friends left the photo area with triumphant smiles on their faces, excited to see how the pictures looked when they were developed. Tai stretched his arms up and yawned.

"Gee I hope you're not getting tired already, you're our prime partier," Matt teased. Tai smiled.

"Nah, I'm just getting bored, I mean it's nice to see so many pretty girls walking around in gowns and stuff, but I prefer the more scandalous attire," Tai said shrugging. Sora punched him lightly in the shoulder.

"Hey! What do you think girls are?" Sora said frowning. Tai grinned.

"beau-ti-fuuulll," Tai said. All three girls glared at him but laughed at his answer. Skyy was starting to get bored of the outfits as well though. Her dress was itching her legs and her hair felt really crusty because of the vast amount of hairspray that Mimi and Sora sprayed on it. Her face felt heavy too with all the make-up.

"I think I'm gonna hafta agree with Tai," Skyy said bending down to itch behind her knee. Mimi raised an eyebrow.

"About the beautiful girls?" she asked. Skyy smiled.

"ohh yeaaaah," she said sarcastically, "no, I mean I'm getting bored, do you guys wanna go change into some normal clothes?"

"Yessss that sounds good!" Tai said, over exaggerating the word 'yes'. "I can't wait to get out of this, I don't do the whole black tie thing," Tai said. Mimi bit her lip for a second.

"I don't know I thought you looked good," she said. Tai looked at her. Wide grins spread all of the other friends' faces. Mimi started panicking under Tai's gaze.

"For a change, I mean," Mimi said waving her hand. Tai frowned and Skyy slapped her hand on her forehead.

"Gee thanks," Tai said sarcastically. Mimi stuck out her tongue teasingly. Skyy rolled her eyes and she grabbed Mimi's arm.

"C'mon Meems we need to teach you flirting, bye boys, meet up at the teen center in 10 minutes okay?" Skyy said and she waved goodbye to the boys whilst dragging Mimi behind. The boys looked at each other and waved back awkwardly.

As Skyy dragged Mimi over to the elevators Sora followed behind.

"Why does she need to know how to flirt Skyy? It's Mimi, she knows how to flirt," Sora said with a confused expression on her face. Mimi huffed.

"Yeah! I know how to flirt! And stop pulling me!" Mimi whined and she yanked her arm out of Skyy's grasp. Skyy sighed loudly.

"Not when it comes to flirting with Tai you don't, whenever you do flirt you cover it up as a joke or a mistake," Skyy explained. Mimi pouted angrily. Sora just stared at the both of them.

"What! Why would Mimi flirt with Tai? Wait, what's going on that I don't know about?" Sora said, her voice was getting edgier as her annoyance built.

"Just wait a sec," Skyy said. Sora frowned and pouted angrily, mirroring Mimi's expression. As they reached the elevators they were lucky to get to one that opened up right away. The girls climbed in and Skyy quickly pressed the 'close door' button so nobody would come in with them. Skyy turned to Sora, who was waiting expectantly. Skyy looked at Mimi.

"Do you mind?" she asked. Mimi shook her head.

"Whatever," She answered. Skyy took a deep breath.

"Okay, basically, Mimi likes Tai, for real. Not just a joke this time. Not that's a joke that Mimi likes Tai, I mean it's totally insanely awesome and I'm super stoked for her. But yeah, and now whenever she gets near him and tries to flirt she's a total floozy,"

"Hey!" Mimi snapped.

"Sorry Meems, it's the truth. So now we need to think up of a super love inducing plan to get them together so they can be a gushy couple for ever and ever!" Skyy finished. Sora's mouth was wide open. Mimi rose and eyebrow.

"Mushy gushy couple? Excuse me?" Mimi said. Skyy held up a finger.

"I said gushy couple, minus-ay the mushy-ay," she said. Sora suddenly started waving her hands rapidly.

"OH MY** GAWD**!" Sora squealed. She attacked Mimi with a hug that surprised her so much she almost fell over. This time Skyy raised her eyebrows and grinned at her two friends. Sora jumped up and down whilst still hugging Mimi. Mimi gave in and laughed, hugging and bouncing in time with her.

"Why didn't you **tell** me?" Sora said pulling away and holding Mimi's shoulders arm-width apart. Mimi shrugged.

"I don't know," she said. Sora put on a fake hurt expression.

"You didn't even tell one of your **best** gals your latest object of affection? I feel so alone," Sora whimpered.

"Tai's an object now?" Skyy questioned. Sora rolled her eyes.

"You know what I mean, so why didn't you tell meee!" Sora whined. Mimi opened her mouth to speak.

"Well! Well! Did Skyy tell you that **she** likes someone!" Mimi said suddenly pointing her finger to Skyy. Skyy's eyes widened and her grin fell. The elevator stopped on their floor and Skyy groaned and walked out as soon as the doors opened. Sora whipped around to look at Skyy.

"What? Skyy! Come **back** here! Why didn't you tell me **either**!" Sora whined as she ran/ jogged after Skyy. Mimi followed at a slower pace.

"Well, I didn't really **want** anyone to know exactly," Skyy said. She didn't really want to talk about this now; both of her friends would start pestering her about it for the rest of the night now.

"But Mimi knows! How come Mimi knows?" Sora said, actually sounding genuinely hurt this time. Skyy frowned and turned around too look Sora in the face. Mimi stopped walking behind Sora.

"Because she forced it out of me! I didn't tell her **who** it was," Skyy said. Sora paused before speaking again.

"So…who **is** it?" she said getting all giddy again. Skyy rolled her eyes.

"Gaah! I **knew** you'd do this! I'm not telling!" Skyy said and she turned around to continue walking to the stateroom. Sora frowned and scurried after, Mimi close behind.

"But…but…you know who Mimi likes, it's only fair that you share with her equivalent information!" Sora protested. Skyy turned on her heel and glared at Sora. Sora eeep'd and back off two steps.

"Don't bother, she's not gonna tell you," Mimi muttered from behind the now scared red-head.

"Okay! Okay!" Sora said raising her hands in surrender. Skyy turned again and walked up to their room door. She took out her card key and slid it in. the door clicked open and Skyy heaved it open. Both of her friends filed in after her and Sora collapsed on her bed. Skyy sat down at the vanity and started wiping off the make-up on her face with tissue. They were all silent for about a minuet. Sora glanced over to Skyy.

"So…what are you going to do about the guy sending those secret notes if you like someone?" she asked. Skyy threw the balled up tissue in the garbage beside the table and sighed.

"Well, when I figure out who the heck it is, I'll have to turn him down I guess," she mumbled. Mimi poked her head from around the closet; she had already changed out of her dress and was only in her underwear.

"So do you have any hunches on who it could be?" she asked. Skyy shrugged.

"No clue," she said, honestly. Sora quirked and eyebrow.

"What about Aaron? He obviously is attracted to you," she suggested. Skyy shook her head.

"Nah, we met him at the teen center, which means we didn't know each other when we were all talking about the truth or dare thing, when I said that notes would be the most romantic way of confessing," Skyy explained. Sora cocked her head.

"Yeah but he could've seen you then, and then purposely approached you at the teen center," she said. Skyy scrunched her face.

"Yeah but…do you seriously think Aaron is that romantic, or smart for that matter, to think of that?" Skyy said grinning. Sora smiled and Mimi giggled from behind the closet.

"Well no, but it still is possible, he's smart enough to put two and two together," Sora said. She got up from her bed and started changing as well. Skyy was done dabbing most of her make-up off so she started searching through her drawers for something cool to wear.

"Well, I **hope** it's not him anyways," Skyy mumbled.

"Maybe you should just ask him about it, it wouldn't hurt," Mimi said. She came back from around the closet and quickly skipped over to her drawers to find some clothes.

"I don't know. I'm kinda nervous for what his answer will be…" Skyy said.

"Well…I'm just sayin'," Mimi said as she grabbed some clothes and huddled back around to the closet again. Skyy took out some clothes as well and sighed again.

"Hmmm…." She looked down at her clothes and stood up to start changing. She was going to wear a red shirt with tassels going around the neckline. She had on short-short jeans with the edges frayed and ripped fashionably. She wore her black leather boots and an orange cap on her head. She didn't bother changing her hair and kept on the silver choker necklace she had had on with her formal outfit. When Mimi had changed she threw some of her dirty clothes in a pile of all the other dirty clothes. She looked at the pile for a second.

"Hey…do you guys think we should do a load of laundry…we've got a lot of dirty clothes…and I wanted to wear this shirt tomorrow…" Mimi said, picking out a yellow top from the pile. Sora stuck her head around the corner to look at the clothes as well.

"Yeaaah...I've got the detergent in my suitcase, we'll put in a load before we go to the club," she said and she turned to get her suitcase out from under her bed.

When all three girls were dressed they stuffed the clothes to be washed in a laundry bag they found in the closet. They left the room with the big bag full of clothes and walked down the very long stateroom hallway until they found the laundry room. They put in a load of laundry and set the timer on the machine. They left the bag on top of the machine and quickly headed out of the humid room.

After they walked all the way down the hallway again they headed upstairs to the Skywalkers Club. When they got up and into the club, music was already blaring and teens were already busting their moves on the glass dance floor. Skyy beamed and quickly dragged her friends over to start dancing; they didn't spot the boys so they just started blending into he crowd of dancing people.

Soon though Tai, Matt, and Izzy met them up on the dance floor and they all found a bunch of chairs to sit at. Soon the teen supervisor woman from the night before stopped the music again and announced the beginnings of a battle of the sex's game. When Mimi and Skyy translated what she was saying they all eagerly got up and got into two groups. One with all the guys, and the others with all the girls.

Skyy, Sora and Mimi quickly met up with Sara, Hailey and Naomi. And from what Skyy saw, the guys had already found Aaron and Brandon.

The first part was the questionnaire. Most of the questions were pretty easy for the girls. There was a couple sports questions that, even though she didn't play sports, Skyy knew the answers to. There were a couple of other 'guy' questions as well that some of the other girls there knew the answers to.

The boys mostly got all beauty questions. Things like, what does a French manicure look like, and what do girls put on their pulse points. Both of which they didn't get even though the answers were easy. French manicures are clear nails with a white tip, and girls put perfume on their pulse points (neck and wrists). The girls had an easy victory with that game, and they all got little prizes. Skyy got a rubbery thing that when you tied one end of it to your finger and flicked it like a yo-yo it would stick to things. Skyy kept flicking it at Izzy until he accidentally ripped it and Skyy got a little angry with him.

After that it was another game involving balloons. They got into two lines and stood facing a bunch of balloons on the ground. Red balloons were for the girls, and blue balloons were for the boys. When it was their turn the first person in the line had to go get the right colored balloon and try and pop it. Once they popped it they had to get the piece of paper from inside it and do what the piece of paper told them to do. Mimi decided to stay near the guys so she could help Matt, Tai, and Izzy to read their papers.

Skyy's piece of paper said to do 3 yoga poses for 5 second each. It was a little embarrassing because she kept collapsing it fits of giggles. Tai had to run from one side of the club to the other two times. He ran really fast but he tripped over a chair and went flying which made everybody laugh. Sora had to do the chicken dance and Izzy had to act like a monkey. Mimi and Matt both had to try and do handstands. It was a lucky thing that Mimi chose tonight not to wear a skirt.

The game was really fun at it was awesome to see everyone do stupid things. Skyy got pictures of everyone doing there things and she got Sora to take pictures of her. At one point her camera got lost and when she got it back it turns out that everyone in the club randomly took a bunch of pictures with her camera. She looked through the pictures and laughed at all the silly poses people she didn't even know were doing.

The boys ended up winning that balloon round. The last round involved a spoon and string. The spoon was tied to string and they had to put it through all of their tops until they got to the last person. the spoon and to go through the top of the first persons shirt, then through the bottom on the next, then the top, and so on and so forth.

Skyy wished she had worn a sweater so she could've zipped it down until it was almost undone so then she wouldn't have to spend much time getting the spoon through her top. She ended up getting the spoon when you were supposed to put it up through the bottom of your shirt. When she put the spoon through her shirt hiked up a little bit and her stomach showed. Skyy felt someone looking at her but tried to ignore it.

After they all got the spoon through their shirts and were all linked buy the string they had to feed it back and out of their shirts. The girls were fast and won the competition. The female supervisor announced the girls as the winners and gave them some more little goodies. Skyy got a plastic top but it didn't spin very well so she chucked it to the other side of the room into a group of people. They all looked around to see where the top came from and Skyy turned her head to pretend it hadn't been her.

After the battle of the sex's game, not much else had been planned. The DJ started playing music again and soon people started dancing on the dance floor again. Other people got out board games again or were playing foosball/air hockey. There were a couple groups of people playing cards too; it looked like they were playing poker without any "real" bets.

Everyone ordered some cokes from the small bar, and once again, Jeremy ordered an alcoholic drink. Everyone was having their own little conversations so Skyy started getting a little bored. She was watching the people on the dance floor and suddenly stood up and took both of Sora and Mimi's wrists.

"Heey! C'mon let's go dance again! We didn't get to do it for very long last time!" Skyy said excitedly. Sora and Mimi smiled and put down their drinks.

"Yeah! Totally!" Sora squealed and all three of the girls waltzed over to the dance floor. They shimmied through to the middle of the crowd of people and began swaying to the beat of the song.

They hadn't been dancing for very long until Skyy noticed Sora and Mimi drifting away with light smiles on their faces. Skyy stopped dancing and gave them a confused look.

"Hey where are you guys going?" she asked them but suddenly an arm rapped around Skyy's waist from behind. Skyy smiled.

"Jeez! Tai let…" but when she turned around her voice stopped. Aaron looked down at her with a big smile on his face. Skyy's eyes widened and she started getting nervous.

"Hey there beautiful, wanna dance?" he said and he turned her around and held her hips firmly. His breath smelt like alcohol so Skyy started getting even more nervous. Skyy put her hands on his chest.

"Uh, sorry Aaron, not right now, I actually need to go find the guys," she said and lightly tried to push away. But Aaron held her tighter.

"Why? You can find them later, let's just dance, y'know, like last night," he said and brought her a little closer to him. Skyy tried pushing again. Jeez! Why did Sora and Mimi leave her alone with him!

"But I really need to go find them," she tried again. Aaron brought her even closer, wrapping his arms around her waist so that her chest was pressed up against his.

"No you don't," he said, his tone made it seem final. Skyy was seriously wishing that Tai was here, he'd be able to help get her out of this. She wanted to get away from this guy as soon as possible.

Aaron brought his face closer and it wasn't until his lips were an inch away from Skyy's did she realize what he was trying to do. She turned her head away, balled her hands into fists and pushed him away as hard as she could. His arms were so firm around her though that she didn't even get him to budge. Her head was screaming for her to run away but his grip was so tight. He tried kissing her again but she moved her head away again.

"Please! Aaron I need to go! Let me go!" she said, her voice was distressed.

"C'mon Skyy, I know you like me," Aaron whispered into her ear. He stuck his tongue out and licked her earlobe, and his hands wandered down to her butt and he squeezed. Skyy froze. Her voice came out in a yell.

"No! Stop!" she yelled. Suddenly a tanned colored hand came out of no where and grabbed Aaron's shoulder. The hand pulled him away with much force and Aaron's arms were ripped from Skyy's waist.

Skyy staggered backwards into another pair of arms. These arms were much gentler though. They rapped lightly around her waist from behind. Skyy looked behind her and saw Izzy glaring at Aaron with more hate than she had ever seen him have before.

What the hell do you think your doing?" Tai's voice was ice cold as he gripped Aaron's shoulder. Aaron frowned and yanked his shoulder from Tai's grip.

"What they hell is your problem dude? We were just dancing…" Aaron said. Even though he hadn't understood what Tai said, the way Tai was glaring at him gave him the right message. Tai guessed what he was saying by the way Aaron said it.

"You were forcing her to kiss you and you licked her you ass hole!" Tai snapped angrily. Aaron gave him a confused look. Skyy turned to look at the two boys.

"Tai! Stop it he doesn't understand you," Skyy said in Japanese. Tai growled.

"I don't care! He needs to keep his hands to himself!" Tai said.

"Whatever, c'mon Skyy, now that you've found your friends we can dance all night," Aaron said seductively and he moved closer to her. Izzy's grip tightened and Skyy stepped back.

"Dude, stay away from her!" Tai growled. Aaron looked at him.

"Aww, are you angry? C'mon there's no problem," Aaron said. He moved and wrapped his arms around Skyy's waist and tried taking her away from Izzy.

"H-hey! Wait!" Skyy whimpered and tried to move away from him. Izzy clenched his teeth and balled his fist, he raised it to go and punch Aaron but before he could hit him Tai yelled.

"I said stay away from her!" Tai yelled and he balled his fist and hit Aaron square in the face. Aaron fell to the floor like a rock and a couple girls screamed around them. Everyone backed away.

"Tai! Stop it!" Skyy yelled. Izzy lowered his arm and continued holding Skyy.

"Don't ever let me catch you touching Skyy again got it!" Tai yelled. Aaron was clutching his face and Tai grabbed the collar of his shirt and raised his fist to hit again.

"Taichi!" Skyy yelled. Tai hesitated when she yelled his full name.

"Just stop it!" Skyy said. Tai clenched his teeth and let go of Aaron's shirt, letting him drop to the floor. Tai stood up and glared at Aaron again.

"Hey! Hey break it up boys!" the women supervisor came. A couple of other staff came up as well and held on to Tai to stop him from doing anything more.

"We don't care if you guys go at it somewhere else but **not** here! Now get your acts together and get out!" the woman yelled. Skyy glared at Tai.

"You idiot! Now she's telling us to get out!" Skyy snapped in Japanese and walked away from Izzy, who let her go as soon as she moved away from him. She grabbed Izzy's hand though and dragged him with her. Izzy was surprised but held her hand firmly.

Tai and Aaron were both escorted out by the club staff. Sora, and Mimi both rushed up towards Skyy and Izzy as soon as they got off the dance floor. When Skyy explained what happened Sora and Mimi showered her with apologies for leaving them alone and said they wished they'd never left them. Izzy's hand twitched in Skyy's a couple times when she had said that Aaron licked her, tried to kiss her, and groped her butt. When Skyy asked where Matt was Sora explained that he went and followed Tai as soon as he saw him being escorted out. Brandon and gone too to follow his brother.

"We're so sorry! We were confused before because when we returned to everyone else Tai had asked where you were. When we said we left you with Aaron, him and Izzy left immediately," Mimi explained. Skyy just nodded.

"Well…I guess we're not hanging out with those two anymore…" Sora said, referring to Aaron and his brother, Brandon.

"It's a shame, Brandon's a cute kid, he's funny too…so unlike his brother it seems" Mimi said. Skyy didn't say anything. She stood clutching Izzy's hand. They all decided to leave and said goodbye to Hailey, Sara and Naomi. Once they got out they saw Tai and Matt leaning on the wall by the stairs with serious looking faces. When Tai saw Skyy he looked down at the floor.

When Skyy reached the two boys she stopped walking. Izzy looked at her. Her lip started trembling and she crouched down quickly and buried her face in her arms. She had let go of Izzy's hand but he instantly knelt down beside her. Tai straightened up when he saw her.

She wasn't crying, but when Izzy started rubbing her back he noticed she was shaking.

"Skyy..." Izzy mumbled.

"God...It may seem silly but I was so scared," she mumbled, her voice was shaking and it sounded like she'd start crying but she held it in. Izzy frowned and his eyes looked a little pained. He leaned his forehead on her head. Everyone else watched them silently.

"Me too…I've never wanted to punch someone so badly…he made me feel so indignant," Izzy said quietly. Skyy laughed lightly.

"Izzy? Punching someone? Ha ha, that'd be different…..but….thanks…for worrying about me," Skyy said and she lifted her head. Izzy smiled weakly at her and she wrapped her arms around his neck. He wrapped his arms around her back and they hugged silently. Mimi and Sora both blushed and turned so they couldn't see. They both gave each other little smiles of excitement. Tai and Matt both looked at the floor.

Skyy let go of Izzy and they both stood up. She looked over at Tai and walked over to him. She leaned and tilted her head too look at his face. She smiled at him and he raised his head. He folded his arms and pouted angrily, looking away from her again. Skyy ignored him and wrapped her arms around his shoulders as well.

"Thanks Tai…you were stupid, but you were worried about me, so thanks" Skyy mumbled. Tai sighed and hugged her back.

"Are you okay?" he asked. She let go of him and nodded.

"Yeah, I'm fine now, though now that I think about it I totally could've kneed him in the nuts," she said, he smiled. Everyone still stood their quietly and Skyy rolled her eyes

"Gawd! You're so quiet! C'mon lets go do somethin…" Skyy said but she was interrupted by a loud yawn. After she yawned Sora and Izzy yawned too. Skyy didn't realize how tired she actually was. Skyy smiled.

"Okay never mind then… I'm tiired," she said and she rubbed her eyes. Izzy grinned at her. Tai ruffled her hair.

"Yeah, me too, how about we hit they hay?" he said lifting his arms and stretching.

"Yeah, surprisingly it's almost 1:00," Sora said looking down at her watch. Mimi gasped.

"Really! Then I'm going to bed! A girl needs sleep y'know!" she said. They all agreed to go to bed and headed down to their staterooms. They were quiet the whole way down, and when they got to their rooms they all gave little hugs goodbye and went into their separate rooms.

Skyy was the last girl in her room and as soon and she turned from the door Sora and Mimi bounced up to her with excited faces. Skyy raised an eyebrow.

"What's with you two?" she asked. Mimi squealed.

"You got another one Skyy!" she said. Skyy gave them a confused expression.

"Another letter!" Sora filled in. Skyy's eyes widened.

"What!" she gasped. Mimi handed her a folded up piece of paper that had her name scrawled on it in English.

"Read it! Read it!" Mimi said and both she and Sora crowded around the letter. Skyy cleared her throat and read the note aloud in Japanese so Sora could understand.

"They say opposites attract, do you think that's true? Signed X," she read. Skyy stared at the letter for a second.

"Darn! This doesn't give us any clues!" Mimi huffed and walked over to the vanity table.

"No it does, it says that this person's personality could possibly be the opposite of Skyy's," Sora said.

"So that's why he's asking her if she thinks opposites attract? To see if she'd like someone who's the opposite of her?" Mimi said.

"No…because he doesn't actually expect me to write back….does he?" Skyy asked. Sora shook her head.

"I don't think so, even though he's asking you a question I don't think you're meant to write back, just to think about it," she said. Skyy nodded and looked back down at the writing. Could Aaron really be sending these? She didn't ask him tonight…or she just didn't want to, afraid of his answer. She wondered if it was Aaron, would he still send these after what happened tonight.

"I guess he's gonna stop sending these now…" she said. Sora raised and eyebrow.

"Why do you think that?" she asked. Skyy shrugged.

"Well, Tai punched his face in tonight; you seriously think he's still going to go after me?" Skyy said. She folded up the letter and walked over to the nightstand where she kept her sketchbook. She was going to throw out the notes…if they were from Aaron she didn't want them.

"Oh, are you talking about Aaron? There not from him," Sora said. Skyy turned to give her a surprised look, Mimi looked over too.

"What? How do you know?" they both said at the same time. Sora grinned.

"Because I went up to the bar with him and Matt when we were getting drinks, and I saw him writing something down on a piece of paper, god forbid what he was writing, but I saw it. His writing is a lot messier than that, and he doesn't curve his y's like this guy does, and his a's look different too," Sora said pointing to the piece of paper in Skyy's hand. Skyy suddenly felt extremely relieved.

"Seriously? Oh my gosh! I'm soo glad!" Skyy said and she flopped down on her bed. She took out her sketchbook, and instead of throwing out the both notes, she hid the second note in with the first one.

"Yay! That means there is still a chance of it being a decent guy!" Mimi cheered.

"I wonder, maybe it could be Izzy?" Sora said, grinning widely. Skyy turned red.

"Huh? Why would it be Izzy?" she stammered whilst putting her sketchbook away.

"I don't know, he was just as worried as Tai was tonight about you, a little **too** worried for just a friend don't you think?" Sora asked. Skyy shook her head furiously.

"No way! Besides, Tai is just a friend, what's the difference?" Skyy said. She stood up and walked over to the drawers in the vanity table and started rummaging for her PJs.

"I guess…but still, there is a possibility," Sora said. Skyy shook her head again.

"No there isn't….Izzy can't speak or write perfect English…this guy can," Skyy mumbled. Sora frowned.

"Oh yeah…bummer, it would've been more exciting if it was Izzy," Sora huffed and started changing into her PJs as well. Skyy suddenly felt incredibly sad. _'Of course it's not Izzy…so don't get my hopes up; it's only gonna be worse for me to deal with in the end…' _Skyy thought sadly.

Mimi watched her out of the corner of her eye.

"Skyy…come with me to get laundry okay?" she said. Skyy looked over at her and said okay. The two girls left to go to the laundry room and they quickly moved the washed clothes into a dryer. They walked back to the stateroom and Sora was already in bed. Mimi and Skyy quickly got changed and washed up and climbed into bed as well.

Skyy shut off the light and soon sleep enveloped her much sooner than she expected. All three girls' breathing became rhythmic as they fell into deep sleeps. Totally forgetting that tomorrow they docked at their first port, the wonderful and beautiful capital of Alaska, Juneau.

End – Day Four


	5. Day 5: Monday

Digimon Adventure 02 – Summer in Alaska

Day Five

Skyy's eyes fluttered open and they were greeted by darkness. The only light she could faintly see was the hallway light glowing from the crack in the door. She shifted from under her covers, relaxing in the warmth of the sheets. She glanced over at her watch on her nightstand and reached over to click the light on so she could see the time. It was 6:17 in the morning. Skyy smiled to herself, '_good, I get to sleep longer,"_ she thought snuggling into her pillow.

Suddenly the shrill sound of the phone rang through the small stateroom and Skyy scrunched her face. Mimi shifted from her bunk bed and moaned.

"Skyy you get it!" she grumbled. Skyy sighed in annoyance and in a burst of energy sat up and pushed her covers up. If she moved slowly she'd just fall back and snuggle into the bed more. She walked over to the vanity table where the phone was. She picked up the receiver and answered in a sleepy voice.

"Hello?" she said. Tai's excited voice answered.

"Skyy! You **have** to come outside! It's amazing!" Tai said. Skyy frowned.

"Why?"

"There are whales out here! Come you guys have to come see them before they **leave**!" Tai said. Skyy perked up a little.

"Seriously? Whales...I'll ask the girls, one sec," Skyy put her hand over the receiver and turned to look at Sora and Mimi through the darkness.

"Hey guys, there are whales outside! Come check them out with me!" Skyy said. Sora made a muffled sound in her pillow which Skyy assumed was a "why?"

"Because! These are whales! When was the last time you saw a **whale** huh!" Skyy urged. She heard Mimi move in her bed.

"I'll come, but I'm not getting dressed, I'm wearing my housecoat," Mimi said sleepily as she climbed down the ladder and wandered over to the closet. Sora groaned in her pillow. Skyy frowned.

"Jeez I'll take it as a 'no' from Sora," Skyy shrugged and put the phone receiver back to her ear.

"Hey Tai, me and Meems are coming up, but, we just got out of bed," Skyy said with a 'that-means-you-don't-make-fun-**got**-**it**?' kind of tone.

"Ohh scary, we'll beware," Tai teased. Skyy rolled her eyes and snorted.

"Whatever, I've seen you when you wake up, your 10 times worse so you shouldn't be talking!" Skyy countered. Tai was silent.

"True….so we'll see you two soon then?" he asked.

"Yep, be up in two minuets, where are you?" Skyy asked. When Tai informed her they were on the deck that was one up from the pools, they said their goodbye's and hung up. Skyy quickly found her blanket that she brought with her from home and wrapped it around herself. She found her slippers, her camera and card key. She and Mimi sleepily got out of the room and Mimi was grumbling saying that the whales better be worth looking at. Skyy just laughed at her, despite her own sleepiness. They hobbled up one floor to the pool deck, then up one more floor to the deck that their friends were on.

It was a lot colder outside than it had been the day before. Not fridged or anything, just cooler. And it wasn't cold enough for snow, definitely not cold enough for snow. It was more like a cool, rainy, crisp kind of cold. Skyy's legs were bare and she shivered a little bit.

They both spotted Tai, Izzy and Matt leaning over the railing clicking pictures with their own cameras. They were also in their PJs.

"Yo boys! What's up?" Skyy asked when the boys got in hearing range. Matt looked over excitedly.

"Come! Come look at these whales!" he said. Skyy walked a bit faster and squidged in-between Tai and Izzy. Mimi stood beside Matt and Tai and Matt pointed out at the water with Mimi following the path of his finger with her eyes.

"Where are they?" Skyy said. Izzy grinned at her and wrapped his arm around her waist lightly. He pointed out at the sea like Matt was doing. Skyy blushed at his touch but followed the path of his finger. Then she saw a grey, smooth, wet looking tail slap the water and make a huge splash. Skyy gasped.

"Oh! There they are!" she said. Izzy smiled at her but when she looked at him he quickly looked over to the whales again.

There was about 3 or 4 whales out swimming about 10 miles away from the ship. There was two big ones, a medium sized one, and a smaller one. Every now and then a puff of mist would come up from their blowholes as they breathed for more air. Skyy immediately got her camera out and started taking pictures.

"Tai, let me take a picture, please?" Skyy heard Mimi say. She glanced over at the two. Tai grinned and gave Mimi the camera, she turned to take the picture and Tai watched her for a second. Just as she was about to click a picture he suddenly wrapped his arms around her and put his hands on top of hers on the camera. Mimi eep'd a little bit and blushed bright red as she felt his warm chest press up against her back as he leaned over her. He was so warm even though he was wearing a big rain coat over his PJs. Tai chuckled and raised her hands a little higher, bringing the camera up higher as well.

"Here, you're shaking the camera too much, you need to hold it still," Tai said smiling at her. She just nodded and clicked a picture just as a whale lifted its tail out of the water. Skyy grinned widely and held up her camera to the both of them.

"Say cheese you two!" she said and they both looked over and smiled, still in the same position. Tai was grinning widely, and somewhat triumphantly, and Mimi was smiling weakly with a bright red face.

Skyy smiled at her picture and turned towards Izzy. He looked over at her and she held up her camera.

"Cheese!" she said and clicked a picture. Izzy frowned.

"Jeez…I'm starting to think that telling you not to take pictures by surprise is just a lost cause," He sighed.

"That's because it is," Skyy grinned. Izzy couldn't help but smile back.

"Heey, your nose is red" Skyy chuckled and poked the tip of his nose. Izzy scrunched his nose.

"Well it's cold out heeere," he whined. "How about you? Aren't you cold? You've just got shorts on," Izzy said looking down at her bare legs. Skyy looked at them as well and felt her fingers.

"Yeah I'm a little cold, here feel my fingers!" she said and she held her palm against his cheek. Izzy was startled a bit because she touched his face so suddenly; he blushed bright red just as Mimi had done.

"Holy! Your fingers are like icicles! How did they get cold that rapidly?" Izzy said, shivering at her touch. Skyy gasped.

"Heey! Your face is so warm!" she said and held up her other hand to his other cheek. Izzy blushed a little bit more and held his hands over hers.

"Is it really? Ha ha that's weird," Izzy said nervously. Skyy smiled up at him. Tai arched over and gave the two of them an odd look.

"What are **you** two doing?" he asked. Izzy glanced at him but then looked back down to Skyy. Skyy grinned and turned slightly to face Tai, still keeping her hands on Izzy's cheeks though.

"He's warming my hands!" she said happily. Tai grinned and raised an eyebrow.

"I **see** …did you get any good pictures?" he said to Skyy. Skyy nodded.

"Yeah! Some really good ones of their tails and backs, I even got some of the splashes!" Skyy said. Izzy smiled down at her even though she wasn't looking at him.

"Well good for you, Mimi here unfortunately isn't that great of a photographer and totally wasted all my pictures," Tai said sarcastically and Mimi turned to face him.

"Hey! Don't you say that! You helped me take them so you're half to blame!" Mimi said hitting him playfully. Skyy smiled at the two of them. Tai restrained her arms and she huffed, giving up against his strength. Tai chuckled and she turned her back to him, leaning on the railing. He leaned beside her and whispered something into her ear. She blushed and Tai grinned to himself, looking up and out to the sea. Skyy raised and eyebrow. Well…he certainly was making moves on her…more than usual, and more and more frequent. He already flirted with her three times already since they'd been here. Skyy's chest felt warm when she thought of Tai and Mimi being together. She hoped Tai would like Mimi real soon so they could get together. But he couldn't possibly have fallen for her yet…he would've told her right away, just as she had done to him when she figured out she liked Izzy.

She turned to face Izzy and was slightly surprised to see his eyes closed. He still had his hands over hers, which were **still** on his face.

"Hey, Iz?" she said, he opened his eyes.

"Yeah?" he asked.

"Why were your eyes closed?" she asked. Izzy just shrugged.

"Nothing, your hands are just really soft, it's soothing," he said closing his eyes again. She rose and eyebrow.

"Seriously?" she asked, he nodded.

"Wow….those hand creams that Sora gave me actually work…who knew," She mumbled. Izzy grinned and opened his eyes. He let go of her hands and wrapped his arms around her back, hugging her.

"Jeez! You're too cute for a tomboy!" he said digging his face into the crook of her neck. Skyy blushed more than she ever remembered blushing before.

"Wh-wh-what? Izzy what are you saying?" She stuttered. Izzy chuckled and let her go, holding her shoulders at arms length.

"Ha ha! I caused you to be nervous didn't I?" he said slyly. Skyy blushed deeper, if it was even possible.

"N-no!" she snapped. He grinned wider.

"But you're stuttering and your face is all red, the physical signs prove that-"

"Shut up!" Skyy huffed and turned away from him to lean on the railing and look at the sea and whales again. Izzy smiled and wrapped his arm around her waist again.

Skyy couldn't believe it…why was he acting all couple-y with her all of a sudden? Holding her waist, hugging her, telling her she was cute. It wasn't extreme couple behavior…but he didn't usually do this kind of thing…in fact he never did. Usually it was Tai who did those things to her, except for holding her waist, and he all meant it in a brotherly way. Not that she was really complaining or anything that Izzy was acting this way. She relaxed at Izzy's warm touch and became entranced with the view of the sun rising and the whales swimming further away.

When Izzy noticed Skyy's finger tips getting red from the cold he unwrapped the scarf he had around his neck and wrapped up her hands. She laughed at him but she didn't take off the scarf . He resumed holding her waist until Matt made a sly comment about it and Izzy got embarrassed. Skyy was a little disappointed but even though Izzy wasn't holding her waist anymore he always remained in physical contact with her with their shoulders or arms always touching each other.

Soon the 5 of them left after they couldn't see the whales anymore. It was around 7:21 and they were all pretty wide awake now. Skyy didn't think she would've been able to go back to sleep. However they all went back to their rooms to get washed up and changed into some normal clothes and out of their PJs.

Sora was still sleeping when Mimi and Skyy walked back into the stateroom. Skyy quickly picked out some clothes whilst Mimi hopped in the shower. Skyy tried to be quiet when she moved around, making sure not to wake Sora.

Once Mimi was out of the shower Skyy jumped in, once she washed herself quickly she got out and dried herself off. When she got out she started blow drying her hair. Mimi was singing some sort of song as she got ready so Skyy didn't bother being quiet for Sora's sake because Mimi had probably already woken her up with her singing.

Skyy then got dressed after finishing her hair, which she just left down. She put on a long-sleeved blue shirt with a shorter long sleeved sweater-like shirt over top that stopped just under her chest. It had little black strings crisscrossing in the front. She wore long jeans with fashionable rips in them. And lastly she put on a white cap with a black stripe going around the rim.

Skyy finished getting ready early, like she usually did, and sat on her bed clicking through all of the pictures she had taken on her camera so far. She laughed at some and smiled at others. She sighed loudly when she reached then end.

"Can you believe I've already taken more than 300 pictures?" she said. Mimi paused as she came out of the bathroom with some bobby pins stuck in her mouth and her hand holding up her hair.

"Actually, no it's not hard to believe, you take pictures of absolutely everything!" Mimi chuckled. Skyy smiled. Just then the ding dong sounded through the ship and the intercom came on.

"Hello this is your Captain speaking from the Brig. Today is a beautiful day and we've just docked onto the lovely shores of Juneau, Alaska. It is a little foggy outside but nonetheless beautiful. Tours will be waiting for passengers outside on the pier, and passengers will be able to begin getting off the boat in about 30 or 40 minuets. We hope you have a pleasant day on board the Golden Princess and a marvelous time here at Juneau," the British captain's voice echoed throughout the ship.

"Hmm we should wear our raincoats then…" Skyy said, getting up from her bed and putting her camera back in its case. Mimi nodded as she stuck the rest of the bobby pins that were in her mouth into her hair. Her hair was in a high ponytail with her bangs scraped back and bumped up a little bit.

Weird, they had docked; But Skyy never felt the ship stop moving at all. Then it suddenly hit her how smooth the ship was sailing this morning, the exact opposite of the morning before. The ship had gone back to the same barely noticeable rocking that it had been like on the first night.

Skyy went and grabbed her white raincoat just as Mimi was finishing up her last minute make-up touches. Sora got up soon after Mimi finished getting ready and she wandered into the shower telling them not to wait for her.

Skyy and Mimi decided to go up to the buffet and get some breakfast. Both of their stomachs were growling and once they had food on the brain they didn't want anything else. They chatted all they way up to the buffet. Okay it was mostly Mimi gushing about how Tai was 'hugging' her whilst she was taking pictures. She also told Skyy what Tai had whispered to her.

"'You're kinda cute when you're angry' he said! Man! It was **so** awesome! Do you think he **likes** me! Has he told you anything?" Mimi asked excitedly. Skyy grinned and shrugged.

"Honestly, he hasn't told me anything, and I'm not sure, but I'm happy to hear that you're all happy about this," Skyy said. Mimi beamed.

"Ohh! I hope he likes me! That would be great!" Mimi swooned. Skyy smiled and rolled her eyes.

"I'm really happy for you Meems, If he tells me anything today I'll let you know, he usually tells me that kind of stuff," Skyy said Mimi squealed. Actually Skyy was most likely not going to tell Mimi if Tai said anything to her. She wouldn't want to betray her best friend's words but the promise slipped out of her mouth before Skyy could take it back.

"Yay! Thanks Skyy! **Anyway**, I **saw **you and Izzy!" Mimi said slyly. Skyy tried to refrain from blushing.

"Huh? What are you talking about?" she acted surprised, she was good at it.

"I saw you guys hugging! And you had your hands on his face! And he was holding them there! It was soo cute!" Mimi gushed. Skyy raised an eyebrow and gave her a confused look.

"So what? Lots of guys hug me, Matt, T.K., Tai, Cody, even Davis hugged me once," Skyy explained, "and I only had my hands on his face because his face was warm, and my hands were cold, he was like the perfect heater."

"Uggh, whatever! **I** thought it was cute, maybe you two should hook up?" Mimi said, her eyes were practically sparkling with excitement. Skyy looked away nervously, a blush daring to creep onto her cheeks.

"But...ughh…well," Skyy mumbled fidgeting with her hands, but then Mimi groaned.

"Oh yeah! I forgot you like someone…daaarn," Mimi frowned angrily. Skyy mentally sighed in relief. Thank goodness she didn't push the subject. She'd tell her about her liking Izzy in due time…just not yet.

As soon as they walked through the doors to the pool deck did Skyy finally get her first view of Juneau. Skyy gasped when she saw the view.

On the entire right side of the ship was a wall of rich green trees. Fog drifted in-between the branches and a low cloud covered the sky so you couldn't see any higher. The air smelt incredibly fresh and wet. The pier was right beside a large mountain that was covered with the trees; they looked so close to the ship. Skyy took out her camera and took pictures of the trees in contrast with the whiteness of the ship. There was a fresh layer of rain on the deck and all the chairs and tables. It must've rained whilst they were down getting ready.

"Wow! It's so pretty!" Skyy gasped. Mimi nodded.

"Yeah! It's like something from the movie Twilight!" Mimi said in awe. Skyy scrunched her nose. She didn't really like that movie much…the guy who played the main character was ugly, when the character was supposed to be breathtakingly handsome, like a Greek god. Sora and Mimi really liked the movie though.

"Okay we're going…you just ruined the view for me…" Skyy said sarcastically. Mimi rolled her eyes and followed as Skyy marched over to the buffet entrance. All of her friends new she hated two movies with a fiery passion, Twilight, and High School Musical. They were cheesy and she just hated them. Everyone loved them, she hated them, there was no budging her opinion and her friends knew that. Why they were so incredibly popular in America blew her mind.

When they crossed the pool deck and into the buffet the guys were already sat down and eating food, like the day before. Mimi and Skyy said quick hellos and left to go get there own food.

Once the girls came back with there food they sat down and happily chatted with the boys until Sora came up. She had come up a good half and hour later but nonetheless her friends waited for her to get food and eat. Izzy decided to go get some hot chocolate that was only served in the mornings. Skyy, and Matt volunteered to go with him and they came back with hot mugs for everyone.

Soon the ship's intercom came on again and the captain announced that passengers could start leaving the ship. Matt suggested walking around for a while first so Sora wouldn't feel all bloated and full of food when they got off the ship. Izzy also predicted that there would be a huge crowd of people getting off right away...and that would be troublesome to get through. They all agreed and when Sora finished eating they got up and wandered out to the pool again.

Skyy stared in awe at the view again. The trees and the fog together…they just looked magical and full of secrets. Skyy blushed when she thought how silly her opinion was. She held her mug of hot chocolate tight in her hands. It was warming her fingers like Izzy's face had been doing earlier that morning.

"Hey! Let's take some pictures with this view!" Tai said getting everyone's attention. Skyy smiled and got out her camera. As everyone got into funny poses she held up the camera to take a picture. Tai frowned.

"Skyy! No you have to be in the picture with us!" Tai whined, "Give the camera to someone!"

"Oh! Uhh, okay," Skyy said and she quickly found someone to take a picture. She quickly scurried over to her friends and Tai scooted over, leaving a space for her. They all made peace signs and the man that Skyy gave her camera to laughed and clicked the picture.

After they got their pictures taken they went down to the Piazza to get in line and get off the boat. Skyy could see all the passengers on the pier and was itching to go out and shop and stretch her legs.

Juneau was truly a beautiful place. All of the shops along the main street were somewhat older, and all were individually unique. The 6 friends decided to take a wander around the shops before deciding what exactly they wanted to do that day. They went in one store that just had a bunch of random souvenirs from dolls, to card decks, to knives, and head ornaments.

They eventually got bored looking at all of the cheap stuff and headed out of that store. Then Matt found a store that specialized in gun and knife making, they went in and Skyy eep'd when she saw all of the stuffed animal heads decorating the walls. Mimi commented on how disgusting they were. The knives were pretty cool though, they had very intricately carved handles. Matt saw a big one and said how cool it looked, so one of the shop keepers came over right away and started asking him if he was interested. Mimi started translating for them and then both boys started chatting about hunting and such. When Skyy heard the shop keeper say that if he saw a big grizzly bear he would be "glad to shoot its head off" she quickly urged the others to leave and they headed out of the store. Damn Americans…always with the hunting and shameless killing of animals, it freaked Skyy out. Though, she was Japanese, and the Japanese weren't well known for their "kindness" to animals – so she shouldn't be talking.

Sadly most of the other stores were all selling the same souvenirs and so the 6 teens just started walking around instead of actually going in the stores. Just then Tai stopped in front of a restaurant. The restaurant had loud cheery piano music leaking from its doors. The outside was made to look like an old cavern type restaurant. The doors where the half-sized- shutter type doors that you'd see in a cowboy movie or something and it had large moose antlers above the name of the restaurant. Skyy clicked a picture of the building that looked like a blast from the past.

"What's up Tai? You want to go in?" she asked as Tai stared through the doors to the inside of the restaurant. The others stopped walking as well.

"I smell chicken fingers," Tai said and disappeared through the doors. Skyy raised an eyebrow and Matt laughed.

"Well, I guess that means we're stopping for a lunch break," Matt said and they all followed Tai through the doors. When Skyy saw the inside she couldn't help but smile. It was just as much a blast from the past on the inside as it was from the outside. The floor was covered in sawdust and large chandeliers made from tree branches hung from the ceiling. There were old style sleds, guns, clothing and dead stuffed animal heads on the walls like bears and deer. There was a long bar on one side that covered the whole wall. It was filled with all types of beers, whiskies, and ale. In one corner there was a small piano with a man happily slamming on the keys as he created a very cheery and bouncy song that suited the whole air to the cavern. The restaurant was a little dimly lit, like a pub, but it suited the atmosphere.

They all sat at a table that would fit the six of them. After the waiter came and got their drink orders Skyy skipped off to take pictures of the restaurant. Her parents would be in awe when she told them she had eaten in a place this amazing.

They all ordered rounds of fish and chips and chicken fingers and chatted happily over the sound of the piano. Soon though they had all gotten full and Mimi and Skyy helped pay for the check. Skyy did one more look around before they all headed out of the restaurant. As they started walking down the street again Sora looked at her watch.

"So what do we want to do now, we don't have any tours scheduled for today….so what should we do?" she asked.

"How much time do we have before the ship leaves?" Skyy asked.

"About 5 hours," Sora said.

"Actually, we guys were talking about it last night; do you guys want to check out Mendenhall Glacier?" Matt asked. Skyy perked up.

"Ohh! A Glacier! Ya I wanna go!" Skyy said bouncing up and down.

"I'm in, but how do we get there?" Mimi asked. She was hugging her shoulders to keep out the cold.

"Well, Izzy looked it all up and found out that the local bus can get us there," Tai said. Sora smiled.

"So! We're off to the bus stop then?"

When the bus reached its stop the 6 teens and some other passengers got off. They were a lot further from the Glacier than they'd hoped they'd be. They all ended up having to walk about 2 miles to get to the reserve center beside the glacier. By the time they reached the viewing point Skyy's legs were cramping up. Mimi of course had complained the whole way, but as much as she wanted to Skyy kept her complaints in her head. They knew they had reached the Glacier because they saw tonnes of tour busses on the side of the road and mobs of people in separate tours being led by tour guides. They pushed through all the tourists and found one of the view points that was just on the edge of a small cliff that looked out to the glacier. Skyy got out her camera and started clicking pictures. Her friends all gasped in awe at the giant glacier.

The Mendenhall Glacier was a huge slab of ice that sat between two mountains. At the foot of the glacier was a small lake that had fallen ice bergs floating off. The ice was a brilliant white except for the icebergs that had streaks of electric blue in them. There was also a waterfall coming down one of the mountains beside the glacier. When Skyy noticed people wandering around at the foot of the waterfall on a small beach she persuaded everyone to go down and check it out with her. They had to hike for a while again to get down to the waterfall. But when they got down they all spread out to explore.

Skyy took some pictures then skipped over to the edge of the lake. The water was incredibly clear and there were some odd small chunks of ice floating not too far from the edge of the water. Skyy touched the water with her fingers and shivered at how cold it was. She withdrew her hand and quickly tried to warm it up.

"Ha ha, its cold isn't it?" Izzy's voice said from behind her. Skyy jumped and looked back at him.

"Woah! Jeez you scared me! I didn't know you were there!" she said. Izzy grinned and knelt down beside her.

"Oops, my apologies," he said. Skyy punched him lightly. Izzy chuckled; he looked down at her hands. She was rubbing them together to get some heat from the friction. He took her hands in his and cupped them around her fingers. He slowly breathed some hot air onto her fingers and rubbed them together. Skyy blushed and couldn't help but notice how much bigger and wider Izzy's hands were compared to hers.

"You seriously need to get some gloves or I'm going to have to continue warming up your fingers like this," Izzy said smiling. Skyy smiled back.

"I don't mind you warming them," she mumbled, but Izzy caught her words and blushed slightly. He kept hold of her fingers but turned and looked out to the lake and gazed at all the floating ice bergs that had fallen off of the gigantic glacier. Skyy looked at him from the corner of her eyes. She smiled. She withdrew one of her hands from his and poked his cheek with her index finger. Izzy moved away from her finger.

"Heey what was that for?" he whined. Skyy laughed and put her hand back into his.

"It's mesmerizing isn't it? The scenery I mean," she said and she turned to look out at the lake as well. Izzy smiled back at her though she didn't see him.

"Yeah…it is," he mumbled. The both looked in silence before an unfamiliar voice spoke out to them.

"Skyy? Skyy Tsutsumi? Is that you?" a voice asked in English, but pronounced Skyy's name with an accent. Skyy's eye's widened and she turned around.

"That voice..." she said and Izzy turned around as well. A strikingly handsome boy stood behind them. He was clearly Asian but oddly enough had short blonde hair that was sticking out at odd angles from under his woolen cap. The boy smiled a brightly, showing off perfect white teeth.

"Skyy! I knew it was you! I can't believe you're here!" the boy said excitedly, his eyes lighting up. Izzy suddenly felt the boil of jealousy bubble up in his stomach and he stood up protectively, letting go of Skyy's hands.

"Hey, how do you know Sk –" but he was cut off and Skyy stood up and ran for the boy.

"Oh my gosh! Jeremy is that you!" Skyy squealed in English and she opened her arms and hugged the boy, who returned the hug. Izzy frowned and glared at the boy. How did she know him? Where did he come from? How come he never knew about this guy?

It didn't get any better when they both broke out into **Korean**. Izzy was shocked; he didn't even know that Skyy **knew** Korean. She hadn't told anyone that she knew more than just Japanese and English. Izzy started feeling like a third wheel and unbelievably bothered by this surprise relationship Skyy had with this good looking guy he had never met before. They were chatting for a couple minuets and Izzy huffed and crossed his arms. Skyy suddenly noticed Izzy's presence again because she turned to Izzy and returned to speaking Japanese.

"Oh! Izzy I'm so sorry, I forgot, this is Jeremy Lee!" she said as she introduced the boy. Izzy didn't greet him back.

"This is Izzy Izumi," Skyy introduced him because he obviously wasn't going to do it himself. Jeremy nodded.

"Is he your boyfriend?" Jeremy winked to Skyy. Both she and Izzy blushed bright red.

"Uhh, no he's just a friend!" Skyy said, "We're here with a bunch of our friends."

Izzy wanted to say so badly that he **was** her boyfriend…but Skyy would get upset with him so he kept his mouth shut. Also he **wasn't** her boyfriend so he'd be lying to a complete stranger.

"So, what is he to you?" Izzy said with a bit of annoyance in his voice and he jutted his chin towards Jeremy's direction. Skyy ignored his tone and continued on happily.

"He went to the same school I went to when I lived in Canada! He grew up in Britain, then moved to Korea for a couple years, then came to Canada. We were close friends before I moved back to Japan," Skyy explained.

"What do you mean? we're **still** good friends!" Jeremy said in Japanese. Skyy turned to him.

"Hey! You're speaking Japanese so well now! You've definitely gotten better since I last saw you!" Skyy said. Jeremy chuckled.

"Naah, my girlfriend loves the Japanese culture which made me want to finish learning it even more," Jeremy explained. Izzy perked up when Jeremy mentioned he had a girlfriend. Skyy gasped again.

"You have a girlfriend! Since when? Who is she? How old is she? Does she go to your school?" Skyy said. Jeremy laughed.

"Her name is Crista. Here I have a picture of us together, she's so cute!" Jeremy said and suddenly started digging in his pockets. He took out his wallet and slipped out a small picture. Skyy took it and aww'd when she saw it. Izzy shuffled over and peeked to look at the picture.

It was a picture of a very cute Caucasian girl with dark blonde hair. She had brown eyes and was making a peace sign whilst smiling. Jeremy was beside her and kissing her temple.

"She's so pretty Jeremy! But I thought you liked older girls? She looks younger than you…" Skyy said looking at the girl more closely. Jeremy scratched the back of his head.

"Yeaah, she's actually 17 years old," Jeremy said. Skyy's eyes widened.

"What? That young? But you're what, 19 now? I could've sworn you didn't like younger girls," Skyy said. Jeremy blushed and shrugged.

"Yeah well I don't usually, but she…I don't know it's just different with her. She's pretty mature…but not mature, and she's really nice and funny and easy to talk to, and she's learning Korean for me," Jeremy said with a dreamy look in his eyes. Skyy raised and eyebrow and smiled.

"How come you didn't tell us **you** knew Korean Skyy?" Izzy asked. Skyy looked at him.

"Oh…I don't know, the subject never came up…I learned it when I went to Canada, it was actually because of this guy I learned it," Skyy explained pointing to Jeremy, who grinned widely. Izzy nodded. Skyy turned and looked back to Jeremy.

"So wait, if she's 16, how can you go to the same school?" Skyy asked.

"I stayed back a year because there was some courses I didn't get to take that I wanted to," Jeremy said. Skyy smirked.

"And I bet you just wanted to stay with Crista for longer huh?" she said and she elbowed Jeremy lightly. Jeremy blushed.

"Yeah that too…" Jeremy muttered. Izzy smiled. Great! This was great! This guy had a girlfriend; he had nothing to worry about. There was no way this guy was going to make moves on Skyy whilst they were here. He was so obviously in love with his girlfriend back home. Izzy's past jealousy was still there, but had calmed down a great deal. It bugged him a little bit that Skyy was close friends with such a handsome guy before she had met him though, but it was the same way with Tai too. Except for the handsome part. Tai had known her since she was 11 so he beat the pants of both Izzy and Jeremy.

"So where are you staying? You're on vacation I assume," Skyy asked the handsome Korean boy.

"I'm here on a cruise actually," Jeremy said. Izzy glanced over to the boy, his smile faltering. Skyy's smile got wider.

"So are we! Which cruise line are you on?" she asked.

"Princess Cruises, we're on the Golden Princess," Jeremy said. Izzy mentally slapped his forehead as his jealousy rose again. Skyy bounced up and down.

"Seriously! That's the same ship we're on! How come we haven't seen each other before?" Skyy squealed. Izzy grumbled to himself but neither Jeremy nor Skyy noticed. Jeremy's face lit up.

"No way! That's great! I'm here with my family so I'm always following them around or taking care of my sister. That's them over there," Jeremy turned and pointed to a group of three people standing a little ways away. There was a cute little girl with a pink raincoat on standing with a couple. When the family noticed them both Skyy and Jeremy waved giddily.

"Ohh! She's so big now! Your sister is still soo cute!" Skyy said. Jeremy smiled. Just then Sora, Matt, Mimi and Tai walked up to the three of them. Matt was holding a rather large chunk of ice and he looked at Jeremy, not recognizing him. Tai rose and eyebrow when he saw Skyy and Jeremy talking so familiarly with each other.

"Who's this?" Tai said. Skyy bounced up and down.

"This is Jeremy! He is one of my good friends from Canada! He went to my school!" she said happily. Jeremy grinned, showing off his teeth.

"Pleasure to meet you," he said. Both Mimi and Sora blushed at Jeremy's good looks. Tai noticed Izzy's discomfort and smiled mentally. It seemed maybe Izzy had some competition?

"And guess what! He's on our cruise ship! We have to let him hang with us! He's all by himself so we need to show him a good time!" Skyy said. Mimi and Sora nodded furiously and quickly huddled up to shake Jeremy's hand and introduce themselves. Matt and Tai gave him slight glares. Now they knew how **Izzy** was feeling.

"Hey, hey, back off girls, he's got a girlfriend," Skyy said smirking at her two female friends. Mimi and Sora pouted and Jeremy laughed nervously. Tai and Matt perked up a little at this statement. Skyy had said it not only to get Mimi and Sora's prying eyes off of her friend, but to ease both Tai and Matt's minds. It was only then when Skyy actually noticed the chunk of ice that Matt was struggling to hold onto.

"Wow! Matt where did you get that?" she asked and skipped over to him to look at the ice. Matt grinned.

"I found it just on the shore over there, I thought you'd like to take some pictures with it," he said and he lifted his knee to push the ice up higher because it was slipping from his hands. Skyy grinned.

"Maan you know me well, I want pictures of everyone with it!" she said. Tai rolled his eyes. She took individual pictures of all of them with the ice; she even forced Jeremy to take one. Skyy scolded Tai when he held the block of ice up above his head saying he'd die if it slipped through his hands. He just ignored her of course. Mimi didn't want to hold the "dirty" ice so she just put it on the ground and crouched beside it. Jeremy hugged the ice and smiled like he was hugging a teddy bear which made Skyy laugh at him before taking the photo. Skyy gave her camera to Sora so she could take a picture of her holding the ice. Skyy stuck her tongue out a pretended to lick the ice. Sora laughed as she clicked the picture.

"Wow Skyy, you've got a Gene Simmons tongue," Sora laughed when she gave Skyy back her camera. Skyy frowned.

"Shut up it's not that long, now! Everyone get together!" she said and everyone sighed and stood in a huddle. Skyy looked around for someone to take the picture.

"Here let me take it," Jeremy offered. Skyy shook her head.

"No way man! You're gonna be in this picture whether you like it or not, go get your mom or something so she can take a picture of all of us," Skyy said. Jeremy sighed and rolled his eyes, but he was grinning regardless. He jogged over and spoke with his mother for a second before they both made their way back. Skyy and Jeremy's mom exchanged quick hellos and Skyy gave the woman her camera. Skyy dragged Jeremy into the middle of the huddle. Jeremy smiled and put his arm around Skyy's shoulders and they all put up peace signs as Jeremy's mom took the picture.

After they all got tired of looking around they decided it was time to head back to the ship. Jeremy left with them, saying goodbye to his family and that he would meet them on the ship later. Skyy and Jeremy chatted the entire way back to the bus stop, and on the bus, and on the way back to the ship. Izzy watched them with jealous eyes but kept quiet.

Why was she giving this guy all of her attention now…sure they haven't seen each other in a couple years…but still. Just last night she was holding **his** hand, and giving **him** hugs. Even this morning she was with **him** most of the time, and giving **him** her attention. And just a while ago they were sort of holding hands, and she said that she **wanted** him to hold her hands. Not that this guy was particularly competition, but he was competition for her attention. Izzy wasn't worried about her falling for the guy, she was so happy when she found out he had a girlfriend that there was no way she was interested. But….he was very good looking…and seemed to be a cool guy. What if she started liking him despite his girlfriend? Izzy's jealously returned with a fiery passion. Now he had another guy to worry about besides Tai. Sometimes he didn't like that Skyy was so well liked by guys, but hey…wasn't that how he fell for her in the first place?

When they boarded the ship again they all decided to get some food. They were all hungry and hadn't eaten since lunch, which was about 4 hours ago. They went to the buffet and got a seat besides the windows. They could see down to the docks and the edge of the mountain which was greeted by clear waters. In the middle of eating Mimi cried out saying that she saw something in the water. They watched the water intently for about a minute before Jeremy recognized a small seal dipping up for air once in a while. Skyy was the last one to finally see it. Tai was calling her stupid because it took her so long to find the seal, Skyy replied with flicking Tai's head quite fiercely. Skyy got excited seeing some more wildlife though. She decided to name the seal Slick and kept watching it from the corner of her eyes whilst she was eating. Only until it never came up for air again, or she just didn't see it anymore, did she pronounce him dead and stop watching the water.

When they were all full they realized that it was already 7:30 and they had missed the beginning of dinner. They decided to split up and get ready to change and go up to the teen center. Jeremy left to go call his girlfriend, he called her every night. Skyy told him where to go to get to Skywalkers and Jeremy agreed to meet them there later. Skyy was a little iffy about going up there, just in case Aaron showed up. She just was mentally praying that he wouldn't be there. It seemed Tai and Izzy were on edge too because she could've sworn them talking in hushed tones, and she distinctively heard the name Aaron in their words as they turned into their stateroom.

As the girls entered their own stateroom Sora and Mimi began drilling Skyy with questions about Jeremy.

"How long have you two known each other?" Sora asked. Skyy shrugged.

"Well, I met him in middle school, I was sitting in the hallway alone and he just approached me. I was kind of upset and he noticed it because he immediately tried to cheer me up and he took me out to lunch. We talked a lot and soon just became good friends," Skyy said with a far off look in her eyes. Mimi smiled wide.

"So you liked him?" she asked. Skyy blushed lightly. They all spread out and started picking out clothes to wear.

"Well yeah! I mean he was totally hot and he was being really nice to me, not to mention he was older," Skyy said. Mimi grinned.

"Thought so, so did anything happen?" Mimi asked. Sora leaned in close too, eager for the answer. Skyy cocked her head.

"Well I confessed to him one day, he didn't seem fazed at all. He agreed to go out with me but somehow I can hardly call it dating. I mean we didn't act any differently besides holding hands. We never kissed but he'd walk me home and we'd go out on dates and stuff. Then when I need to move back to Japan we broke up smoothly and decided to stay friends," Skyy explained.

"That's boring," Sora sniffed. Skyy nodded.

"It was, I think we only agreed to date each other because we were already close friends and somehow it seemed natural, and everyone else at school assumed we were dating so we just made it official," Skyy shrugged.

"So why does he have blonde hair?" Sora asked. Skyy laughed.

"Gaawd, that dude has had sooo many hairstyles it's not even funny! When I first met him his hair was longer, to his shoulders, and it was brown. That's his natural hair color. Then about three months later he cut it short and dyed it black. Then in the beginning of our next school year his hair was even shorter but with long bangs, and it was red! Then near the end of that school year his hair grew out a bit, it was still short though, and he had dyed it blonde. I guess if it's still blonde he must like it that way," Skyy said. Mimi gawked.

"Wow, he's dyed his hair more colors than I have mine," she said.

"At least he hasn't dyed it pink like you have!" Sora said. Skyy smiled.

"Thank god for that!" she laughed.

"He looks really good as a blonde though, like it **really** suits him! Kinda like blonde suits you Skyy. I can't even **imagine** seeing you with your natural hair color," Sora laughed. Skyy shrugged.

"That's because you've never **seen** my natural hair color. No one has, not even Tai! Me and my sis loved being blonde so we kept dying it so our natural hair color would never show again," Skyy explained. Sora nodded.

"So what are his hobbies?" Mimi asked. Skyy rolled her eyes.

"Jeez what are you? He'd be totally creeped out if he found out you guys wanted to know so much about him," Skyy smirked. Sora and Mimi shrugged.

"Hey, he's a **hottie**, we want to know!" Sora said.

"Well, he's pretty smart, oh! He's an extremely good singer! He's in a band, it's called F.T. Island and he told me that they already have an album out, it's been released in Korean though so it's probably only available in Korea…" Skyy said. Mimi and Sora grinned.

"Man! A band? That's soo **hot**! And he sings!" Sora gushed. Skyy raised and eyebrow.

"So? Matt's in a band and he sings," Skyy said looking at Sora. Sora shrugged.

"Yeah, but Matt doesn't have an album out," Sora winked.

"We definitely have to get him to do karaoke one night!" Mimi squealed referring to Jeremy. Skyy sighed. Her friends were weird…though she kinda wanted to hear Jeremy sing again.

They asked more questions as they got changed into different clothes. So much that it was making Skyy annoyed with them. She ended up telling them every single detail she ever knew about Jeremy. She mentally apologized to him for telling them so much when he didn't know her friends that well.

Skyy wore a large purple tank top that was baggy and reached her mid thighs at the bottom, but hugged her figure near her chest and shoulders. She wore some black hand-gloves that had her fingers poking out holes. She wore some black leggings that went to her knees and she wore some purple sandal heals on her feet. She wore some long silver necklaces and small black stub earrings. She decided to leave her down with no clips or hats or headbands in it.

Skyy was done getting ready first, considering she wasn't putting on extra make-up or doing her hair, which Mimi and Sora were. Sora was putting her hair up in some kind of intricate bun thing, and Mimi was curling her hair, and putting on some colorful make-up. As Skyy waited the phone suddenly rang. Skyy got up and answered.

"Hello?" she asked in Japanese.

"Skyy? Oh whew, it's you! I was worried Mimi would answer the phone," Tai's voice came from the other end. Sky raised an eyebrow.

"What? Why would it matter if Mimi answered?" Skyy said a little hushed, she assumed Tai wouldn't want Mimi to overhear the conversation. She stretched the phone cord over to her bed and lay down on her stomach.

"Ohh, uh, it's just she's gonna get surprised tonight…so I didn't want her finding out," Tai said nervously. Skyy furrowed her eyebrows. What was he going to do?

"What do you mean surprised?" she asked.

"Maan I want to tell you soo bad, and usually I would tell you this sort of thing because you'd do the same to me. But in this case I can't, so I'm sorry Skyy. But I couldn't keep this much from you," Tai rambled. Skyy was getting confused. What was he talking about? Something he wanted to tell her but couldn't? And she would tell him if it was the other way around? She didn't get what he was talking about.

"Tai, I really don't understand…what are you going on about?" She asked. Tai sighed.

"I'm going to surprise Mimi tonight, I just wanted you to know," he said. Skyy hesitated.

"Uh…okay? Is that all?" she asked. She heard a rustling movement rubbing against the receiver. She assumed it was Tai nodding his head.

"Yep, that's all," he said.

"Okay, we'll see you letter then," Skyy said. Tai said good bye and Skyy went to hang up the phone with a dumfounded expression on her face. Tai was being weird. She wondered what he was going to do tonight. Surprise Mimi? Why would he surprise Mimi? She had a feeling she wouldn't want to miss going to the teen club tonight. Something big was going to happen.

When the three girls entered Skywalkers night club the entire place was decked out like a casino. There was a roulette tale and a couple black jack tables. There were already some people playing poker with some chips and all of the teen staff was wearing clothes that casino staff would wear. Apparently it was casino night so the staff had brought out all of the casino games they had and gave out $200 worth of chips to everyone. Of course it was all fake and they weren't actually betting money. Skyy was excited because she had never been in a casino or played casino games before. There was a casino on the ship but they weren't aloud in because it was 21+.

Skyy and her friends went over to the usual table and chairs they sat at and she was relieved to see Aaron wasn't there. Brandon was sitting there chatting with Naomi already though. As they all set in to the grove of the teen club again Skyy was starting to feel less nervous about Aaron showing up. If he wasn't here with his brother already, chances are he wasn't going to show up at all tonight. She still noticed Tai and Izzy scanning the crowd every so often with slight glares in their eyes. Skyy couldn't help but notice Izzy had brought his laptop. He always had that thing with him. He even had it when they went outside to Juneau today, and he had brought it every other night to the teen center. Skyy smiled, that was her Izzy, always with his laptop at his right side.

At first they all just sat and chatted, being a little hesitant about going and playing the casino games. Skyy kept scanning the club for Jeremy and when she saw his blonde hair she leaped up and went to go greet him and bring him over. This earned a scowl from Izzy but he pleasantly said hello to Jeremy when Skyy lead him over anyway. When Jeremy was finished being introduced, the teen center supervisor came around and gave them all cups with some plastic gambling chips in them, encouraging them to go play. Skyy grabbed Jeremy's hand and dragged him over to the nearest game, which was Roulette. Since Skyy had never played casino games before Jeremy had to explain it to her first. Soon Izzy, Sora and Mimi wandered over to the Roulette table as well. Skyy assumed the girls had come because Jeremy was there, but she was happy that Izzy had come over as well. In the beginning Skyy was doing well and kept landing on the right numbers or colors that would double or triple her bet. But near the end she got inpatient and started betting large amounts, and losing it. When she only had about $10 left she gave up and wandered around to look for a new game to play. Jeremy instinctively followed her considering he didn't really know anyone there as well as he knew Skyy. Jeremy was actually pretty good with casino games and came away from Roulette with more chips then when he had started.

Soon Skyy found Tai and Matt playing poker with a bunch of other dudes and she stuck around to watch for a while. The casino night didn't last long because a lot of people were gambling newbies and lost all of their money right away. When there was no more hope for the other players the staff called the casino night to and end and tallied up all the winners. Tai and Matt both tied for second place with the most money. Skyy always knew they both were experts with gambling, but she didn't know they were that good. A couple of other people got the first and third places, but Skyy didn't care because she didn't know them.

When the staff put away all of the casino games it was back to the usual. Dancing, playing board games, or foosball and air hockey. One boy took out a guitar and started humming a song that surprisingly, Skyy recognized. It was called Wonderwall and it was buy an American band called Oasis. She sat in one of the squishy chairs and hummed along until the boy stopped playing and started playing something else. They all sat around and chatted for a while before Skyy got incredibly bored and sprang from her seat. She caught a couple people's attention by moving so fast from her seat.

"I'm bored!" she announced. Tai chuckled.

"When are you ever not bored?" he said sarcastically.

"Well come on! We have to go do something! I wanna walk around I'm tired of sitting here," Skyy whined, she spoke in English so her other friends would understand. Mimi quickly whispered the translation to Tai and the others. Jeremy bounced up from his seat, he had been chatting with Brandon for a while. It seemed he was also catching the attention of Naomi, Hailey and Sara because they kept trying to get in both of the boy's conversations.

"Let's go outside and play! Maybe get some drinks? I have an ID," Jeremy grinned. After that Skyy and Jeremy managed to get all of the others out of their seats and they all left in a big group out of the teen center. Mimi quickly reminded them of karaoke afterwards. During the casino games the woman supervisor announced that later on they would be holding a karaoke free-for-all. Mimi was a good singer and she liked to show it off, no doubt she wanted to show off to all of their new friends and all the people at the teen club.

They all took the elevator and walked around for a bit, chatting and goofing off. The eventually found themselves at the pool deck and all gathered around the bar. Jeremy ordered a couple light alcoholic strawberry drinks for those who wanted them. That included Mimi, Tai, Matt, Sora, Hailey, and Sara. Jeremy ordered a Dirty Banana for himself saying that he loved alcohol. Skyy and Tai burst out laughing when he ordered his drink. It took only a couple seconds for everyone else to catch on to the two best friend's dirty minds.

Skyy never knew Jeremy when he was old enough to drink but yet it didn't seem odd to her at all how much Jeremy loved drinking. She knew he wasn't the type to get drunk stupid, but he'd drink until he got a light buzz. Skyy was still a little hesitant about drinking alcohol, as well as Izzy who refused to have a drink. However Skyy had a couple sips of Jeremy's drink. But once she felt herself getting a little too hyper and dizzy she stopped drinking it. They sat down and put their feet in the pool for a while whilst they finished their drinks. After they left the bar and wandered around for a bit longer. They at least went from one end of the ship to the other because Skyy remembered seeing the adult pool at the back of the ship that was underneath the suspended Skywalkers club, and looking out to sea from the front of the boat as well, whilst imitating the famous Titanic pose which gave everyone a big laugh. Tai had gone up and stretched his arms out, laughing. Then Jeremy came up behind him without Tai knowing and slid his arms around Tai's waist like a girl would have and gave Tai a good scare, which made everybody erupt into more laughter.

Soon though wandering around got boring too, there wasn't much to do when it was late outside. And they kept getting shameful stares from older adults when they were too loud or were just plain goofing around.

When they returned to the teen center everyone was sitting around the dance floor and some girl was belting out the lyrics to an English song. They quickly scurried over and found some spots to sit at. They whole room of teens was cheering, some even when they didn't know the song, or the girl singing it. Mimi skipped over to the staff and got two large binders full of all the karaoke songs. Skyy grabbed one too and looked at it. Izzy came over and sat with her and looked at the songs too. Skyy was listing all the songs she knew, and all the ones she didn't – which was most of them. Izzy would sometimes recognize songs, or he would after Skyy hummed the tune for him. When the girl who was singing finally finished, Mimi wasted no time going up and singing a song.

She sang Sk8ter Boy by a Canadian artist named Avril Lavigne. Skyy was wondering if there was possibly a hidden message in the song, because it was about a skater boy and a straight laced girl. The song was about how the guy liked the girl but the girl refused him because her friends didn't like him. But in the end of the song she grows up and sees that the guy became really famous and has a new hot girlfriend. Skyy imagined Mimi being the straight laced girl, and Tai being the skater boy. She laughed at this.

Everyone cheered for Mimi, because honestly, she was a really good singer. She had gotten better since Skyy last heard her sing. When she finished her song though she surprised everyone by introducing Jeremy to the crowd and saying he was in a band. Skyy saw Jeremy's face stiffen and a nervous smile appear on his face. The crowd immediately cheered and whistled for him to come up and sing. When he heard the crowd cheering though he bounced up from his seat and went over to Mimi. She handed him the mic and whispered a good luck to him. Jeremy announced his apologies for the song being in Korean but the crowd didn't seem to care what language it was in. He seemed very normal and at home with a microphone.

As soon as he started singing though the crowd fell silent and Skyy's breath was caught in her throat. He was an amazing singer. Skyy could feel all of the girls in the room staring at Jeremy. She sort of felt a little jealous, but she ignored the feeling and cheered loudly for her friend. The song was an original song that was done by Jeremy's band, so there was no music in the background. But that way you could hear Jeremy's voice better. It must have been one of their new songs because Skyy didn't recognize it. Jeremy said the song was called I Hope, in Korean it was Barae.

When he was finished the crowd erupted with the loudest cheers of the night. Jeremy gave them cheeky smile and bowed. He blew kisses to the audience and laughed as he jogged off the stage and the next brave person went up to sing.

The karaoke went on for a long time. Skyy even went up to sing a song. She sang Fireflies by a one man American band called Owl City. She got loud cheers as well but no one was able to beat Jeremy's cheers yet. When Skyy finished and went back to sit down Izzy whispered that she was really good at singing and she blushed bright red.

The singers started drifting down as less and less people went up to sing. Just before the staff were about to announce the end of karaoke Tai shot up from his seat beside Mimi.

"Wait!" he yelled. Everyone froze and turned to look at him. His face was beat red and he stuttered a little bit when he spoke. Skyy suddenly remembered the phone conversation she had had with Tai before they came to the teen center. A burst of excitement bubbled in Skyy's stomach and she felt the ends of her mouth curving up into a grin.

"I-I would like to sing a song!" Tai announced, in Japanese unfortunately. Skyy quickly turned to face the staff.

"He wants to sing!" she said in English. The staff member shrugged.

"Okay but this is the last one," he said and held out the microphone. Tai stumbled over, tripping on someone's foot on the way. He hesitantly took the microphone and the DJ asked what song he wanted to sing. He whispered the song title and turned to face the crowd again. Skyy watched him with anticipating eyes. Was this the surprise he was giving Mimi?

Tai gulped and opened his mouth to speak.

"U-um…this is a song…uh dedicated to a friend, or, well this song is for Mimi," he said the last part fast and his face grew bright red. Skyy yelled out the translation so the crowd would understand. Some people whistled when she finished talking. Skyy turned to see Mimi's reaction. Her eyes were wide and her face was beat red as well. Sora reached over and shook Mimi's arm with excitement. Mimi ignored her though; her eyes were locked on Tai. His eyes were also looking straight at her. Skyy beamed and turned back around to watch Tai. She took out her camera and turned it on, ready to take a dozen pictures. The music started and Tai took a deep breath.

"Hey Juliet, Hey Juliet" Tai sang. Skyy's eyes widened. English? Tai was singing in English? Since when did he know English? It was cute though because his Japanese accent was so strong. Skyy peeked over at Mimi, she took a deep breath and held it in, and her face was still as red as a tomato. Skyy looked back over to Tai again and began clicking pictures every 5 seconds.

"_Hey I been watching you,_

_every little thing you do._

_Every time I see you pass_

_in my home room class, makes my heart beat fast._

_I've tried to page you twice_

_but I see you roll your eyes._

_I wish I could make it real_

_but your lips are sealed, that ain't no big deal_."

Tai seemed to be getting more confident because he started moving around on the dance floor and even came up closer to where Mimi was sitting. He smiled his famous mischievous grin as he sang and Skyy's mouth dropped open. This song…it was about a guy confessing his love. Tai was singing this song to Mimi! Skyy gasped and put her hand over her mouth. '_Oh my god oh my god oh my god oh my GAWD!'_ Skyy squealed in her head. Mimi was completely thrown for a loop and she stared at Tai, and he gazed at her when he sang. But what nobody noticed was the complete shock on **Izzy's** face.

"_'Cause I know you really want me._

_I hear your friends talk about me._

_So why you tryin' to do without me,_

_when you got me,_

_where you want me?_

_Hey Juliet!_

_I think you're fine!_

_You really blow my mind!_

_Maybe someday, you and me can run away._

_I just want you to know,_

_I wanna be your Romeo._

_Hey Juliet! Hey Juliet!_

_Hey Juliet_!"

At this point Tai had come as close to Mimi as the microphone cord would let him. He held out his hand to Mimi and the audience all looked over to her. Just then the DJ turned on a spotlight and shawn it on Mimi. The light didn't faze her; she was still locked in a trance as she stared at Tai with complete shock and happiness on her face. Even though she wasn't smiling her eyes danced. For the next line he sang, Tai literally got down on his knees.

"_Girl you got me on my knees_

_beggin' please, baby please!_

_Got my best DJ on radio waves saying_

_'Hey Juliet why do you do him this way?'_

_Too far to turn around,_

_so I'm gonna stand my ground._

_Gimme just a little bit of hope,_

_with a smile or a glance, gimme one more chance._

_'Cause I know you really want me._

_I hear your friends talk about me._

_So why you tryin' to do without me,_

_when you got me,_

_where you want me?_

_Hey Juliet!_

_I think your fine!_

_You really blow my mind!_

_Maybe someday, you and me can run away._

_I just want you to know_

_I wanna be your Romeo._

_Hey Juliet! Hey Juliet!_

_Hey Juliet!_

_I know you really want me_

_I hear your friends talk about me_

_So why you tryin' to do without me_

_When you got me_

_Where you want me?_

_You don't have to say forever_

_For us to hang together_

_So hear me when I say_

_Hey, Hey, Hey Juliet!_

_Hey Juliet! Hey Juliet!_

_I think your fine!_

_You really blow my mind!_

_Maybe someday, you and me can run away._

_I just want you to know_

_I wanna be your Romeo._

_Hey Juliet! Hey Juliet!_

_I think your fine!_

_You really blow my mind!_

_Maybe someday, you and me can run away._

_I just want you to know_

_I wanna be your Romeo._

_Hey Juliet! Hey Juliet!_

_Hey Juliet! Hey Juliet!_

_Hey Juliet! Hey Juliet!_

_Hey Juliet!_"

Tai finished and the music went quiet. His breathing was heavy from belting out the lyrics and his eyes were locked on Mimi. The whole crowd erupted in to cheers. And this time, they were louder than Jeremy's cheers. Skyy squealed super loud and bounced in her seat. Tai liked Mimi! Tai liked Mimi, Tai liked **Mimi**! And he confessed it through a **SONG**! Skyy was so unbelievably happy for her best friend that nothing could bring her down from her high right now.

Tai didn't move from the stage and soon the crowd fell quiet as Mimi stood up from her seat. All eyes were on her. She walked over to Tai on the dance floor and looked up at him straight in the eyes. She stared at him for a full minute before he shifted uncomfortably and nervously looked out and the crowd. He opened his mouth to speak, reverting back to Japanese.

"Uhh…well I'm pretty sure you got the message, so I-I don't really know what to do now so –"

"Shut up," Mimi stopped him, speaking in Japanese as well. Tai looked taken aback. Mimi's face was serious but her cheeks still flushed red. Suddenly her mouth broke into wide grin and she rapped her arms around Tai's neck. Tai was about to say something before she shut him up by pressing her lips against his.

The crowd erupted again with wolf whistles and cheers. Skyy and Sora stood up and started bouncing up and down hyper-actively whilst screaming in each other's ears. Matt, Jeremy and a couple of the other guys stood up and clapped whilst wolf whistling. Tai rapped his arms around Mimi's waste and deepened their kiss. They didn't seem to notice anyone else at the moment. Skyy looked over to Izzy and noticed him just sitting there with a dumfounded expression on his face.

"Izzy! Isn't this great! This is soo awesome! Aren't you happy!" Skyy yelled over the screams. Izzy looked up at her.

"Tai likes Mimi….Tai **likes Mimi**," Izzy repeated. Skyy cocked her head.

"Yeah?" she said. Izzy suddenly leaned back and started laughing, as if he was relieved.

"Tai likes **Mimi**! Man! That's **great**! That's **SO** great!" Izzy laughed. Skyy smiled and raised and eyebrow.

"Yeah! Come on let's go congratulate them!" she said and she grabbed Izzy's hand. She dragged him out of the seat as his laughs were ceasing. She took him over to Tai and Mimi who were making-out on the dance floor. Skyy pulled them apart, much to their disappointment.

She leaped on Tai and hugged the life out of him.

"Yes! Tai! This is soo insanely **awesome**! Why didn't you tell me you liked her?" Skyy said. Tai grinned and shrugged.

"I wanted it to be a surprise!" he laughed. Skyy rolled her eyes.

"Who **cares** about your surprises! I'm your best friend you need to tell me these things right away next time! Got it!" Skyy scolded, but her face was beaming. Tai chuckled.

"Yes m'am!" he said and saluted her. Skyy giggled and hugged him again. She then moved over to Mimi and attacked her with hugs as well. Soon the rest of their friends came over and it seemed everyone was giving Mimi hugs or slapping Tai over the back. Even people who didn't know them were congratulating them. Skyy was so absorbed in the blob of cheering people she didn't notice Izzy and Tai walk away for a moment and speak in hushed tones. She didn't hear Izzy's apologies for mistaking Tai's actions. Or when Tai slapped Izzy over the back and wished him "good luck".

The rest of the night was a complete blur. People dancing, playing games, and just having fun. Jeremy was stuck with a crowd of girls, who soon started to leave him as he went on and on about how much he loved his girlfriend and how he refused to talk about himself. Izzy sat in his chair and had his laptop out. He was playing a video game and Skyy was leaning over him to watch and helping him by telling him what to do at certain points or to 'watch out for that guy!'

Skyy had about three cokes and got really hyper. She was bouncing around the whole room when she wasn't with Izzy. At some point Tai and Mimi disappeared for a while and didn't come back until late when everyone had already gone back to their rooms. Skyy was joking the whole way down to the state rooms that they had gone off to make-out, and that they'd probably find them in a dark corner somewhere. As they parted ways Skyy gave Jeremy a hug goodbye, as well as Brandon, Naomi, Hailey and Sara. They were a little surprised by the hugs but hugged her back anyway. Jeremy was used to hugs – for having grown up in Britain- so he returned her hug enthusiastically. It wasn't until Izzy grabbed the back of Jeremy's collar and pulled them apart that they finally left each other.

Skyy didn't hear Mimi come in the room later on because she was so drugged up on sugar that it totally wiped her out and she fell into a deep sleep as soon as her head hit the pillow. It was pretty much the same with Sora but, of course, that was after they had read yet another note that had been left behind in their stateroom. In the same English writing and folded paper with Skyy's name scrawled on the flap, it read:

**You sang beautifully tonight Miss Foosball champ. Signed, X**

Skyy wondered who **was** this guy? He wasn't Aaron…who else could it be? It** definitely** wasn't Brandon, he was too young and he liked Naomi. She had **no** doubt in her mind that it wasn't Jeremy because he didn't even know about the Skywalkers club before today, and he had a girlfriend that he was very much in love with. Also for **obvious** reasons it wasn't Matt, Izzy or Tai. But it was someone who went to the teen center because he knew about her winning the foosball tournament the other night, and saw her sing a while ago. Skyy racked her brain for the answer but she didn't know any other guys who went to the teen center. She had vowed before she fell asleep that tomorrow at the club, she would scan all the guys and look for possibilities. Thinking so much about the whole situation made her even sleepier.

She wished she could talk to Tai about it, but he might spill something. She didn't want Izzy finding out. She had to find this guy, reject him, and pretend nothing ever happened. Keep the whole thing a secret.

As the ship slowly rocked, all three girls were lulled into very deeps sleeps. Today had been tiring, and tomorrow, they were docked at Skagaway, Alaska. What awaited them there? Neither of them knew. But it was another full day with friends and things to happen.

End – Day Five

**AN: do not own the song, it's called 'Hey Juliet' by LMNT, look it up whilst you read to make it seem better ;P**


	6. Day 6: Tuesday

Digimon Adventure 02 – Summer in Alaska

Day Six

Skyy woke up with the darkness of their stateroom greeting her again. Only then did her hearing kick in and she heard the thumping of fists on their door. She grumbled and stuffed her face deeper in her pillow.

"Girls! C'mon it's late! You need to get up!" Matt's muffled voice yelled form the other side. Skyy heard Sora shift in her bed followed by the soft padding of Sora's bare feet walking across the room. Sora clicked the door open and light flooded into the room.

"What do you guy's waaant?" Sora mumbled, sleepiness coating her words. Skyy heard Matt sigh.

"It's 9:30! Our train tour leaves in an hour!" Tai's voice grumbled. All of a sudden Mimi's weight sprung from her bed.

"WHAT!" she yelled and practically flew from her bed. Skyy smiled into her pillow. She heard Mimi rush into the bathroom and slam the door shut. Skyy heard the others laugh as well. Skyy could feel the ship wasn't moving. They must've already docked at Skagaway. Damn, they even didn't wake up when the captain announced that they'd boarded, or that they were even allowed off the boat. Skyy pushed herself from her bed and untangled her legs from the sheets. She wandered over to the door whilst rubbing her eyes awake.

"So why didn't you wake us up earlier then?" Skyy wondered. Tai rolled his eyes.

"We tried! We've been calling since 9:00! When you didn't answer we just came down to your room and started banging on the door! Thank god it worked," Tai grumbled. Skyy raised her eyebrows.

"Oh…wow, okay, you boys go down to the Piazza we'll meet you there," Skyy said and started closing the door.

"You'll be quick right?" Matt asked. Skyy grinned.

"Hey, if they drag, I'll whoop their asses into shape, okay?" Skyy winked. Matt shook his head but smiled.

"Okay, we'll meet you, see ya," Matt said and Skyy closed the door.

The girls were rushing that morning but were making great progress. 20 minuets after the boys left all three girls had showered; Mimi and Sora had done their hair and were almost done putting on make-up. Skyy was almost done, just pulling some clothes on when their phone rang. Skyy picked it up and was surprised to hear Jeremy on the other end.

"Oh hey Jeremy! What's up?"

"Not much, I was wondering when your tour starts today?" he asked, he was speaking English. Skyy raised an eyebrow.

"Didn't I tell you last night? Its 10:30," she spoke in English as well.

"Do you mind if we hang out before you leave?" he asked. Skyy smiled.

"Sure! It won't be for long, but meet us in the Piazza, the guys should be down there already," Skyy said. She could tell that Jeremy broke out into a grin.

"Excellent! I'll go down their now!" he said. Skyy smiled.

"Okay, see you soon," she said then hung up. Skyy looked up and saw Sora and Mimi's heads poking around the corner.

"Was that Jeremy?" Sora said with a hint of excitement in her voice. Skyy gave them a bored expression.

"Yeah….he's meeting us down at the Piazza…"she said slowly. Both Mimi and Sora erupted into squeals.

"Yaay! We get to hang out with Jeremy!" they gushed. Skyy rolled her eyes and pointed a finger at Mimi.

"You! Why are you so giddy about this? You got your man last night! Already fawning over other guys are we?" Skyy said with a fake glare in her eyes. Mimi turned pink and smiled.

"Well...I-I ummm I still love Tai all the same!" Mimi said turning red. Sora and Skyy grinned.

"AWWWW!" they gushed and gave Mimi a big group hug. Mimi huffed and pushed away, embarrassed. They finished getting ready within the next 6 minuets an all hurried down to the Piazza on the sixth floor.

As they approached the large center of the ship before they saw their friends they smelt the smell of grilled sandwiches. Skyy's stomach growled. The three girls saw the boys all sitting in big comfy looking chairs. Skyy saw Jeremy's blonde hair first and was happy to see that he had found the others okay.

There were only four chairs and naturally Sora went to sit on Matt's lap. He rapped his arms around her waist when she sat down. Mimi walked over to Tai and bent down to give him a light kiss. Both were red in the face and Tai shuffled over so Mimi could squish beside him. They both had smiles on their faces when Tai rapped his arm around Mimi's waist and entangled his fingers with hers. Skyy stood there awkwardly for a second. Both Izzy and Jeremy both made a move to get up and offer their seat when Skyy interrupted them.

"Hey! So those sandwiches smell really good! Who wants to go get some with me?" she said. Izzy resumed his motion to get up.

"I'll go," he said. Sora was about to get up too when Matt tightened his grip on her waist, stopping her from getting up. She gave him a confused look. He just smiled and shook his head.

Skyy smiled brightly when Izzy offered and noticing that no one else wanted to go she turned and walked over to the little sandwich grill in the corner with Izzy at her side.

"Remember the first day here? We said we'd come down here and get sandwiches?" Izzy said. Skyy smiled.

"Yeah, that date I promised, we can't really count right now though because the others are here," she said. Izzy smiled.

"Yeah, maybe tomorrow or something? Besides visiting the Tracey Arm a majority of the day will be at sea," Izzy said with hopefulness in his voice. Skyy beamed.

"Yeah!" she agreed. They reached the little grill and told the chef what they wanted. They both ordered two sandwiches each, in case someone else ended up wanting one. As they waiting for the chef to finish grilling their sandwiches Skyy glanced over to Jeremy. He was chatting happily with her friends, using rather large hand gestures to explain some sort of story. Skyy smiled.

"So, what do you think of Jeremy?" she asked Izzy. Izzy frowned.

"Oh, uh, Jeremy? He's interesting I guess," Izzy muttered. Skyy frowned.

"You don't like him?" she asked. Izzy flinched.

"No! It's not that, he…he's a nice guy! He's fun to hang out with!" Izzy said with a fake smile. Skyy gave him a sceptical look. He was lying, she could tell. She left it at that though. She frowned to herself. Why didn't Izzy like Jeremy? It made her sad that the guy she liked didn't like one of her close friends.

Meanwhile Izzy bit his lip and looked at the floor. Damn, he had made her upset. She could tell he was lying…he didn't like lying to her, but if he told her the outright truth that he didn't like Jeremy getting all of her attention she'd be all weird about it.

They both got their sandwiches in silence and returned to the group. Tai ended up having Skyy's other sandwich and Sora and Matt shared Izzy's other sandwich. They chatted until they had finished their sandwiches. Matt looked at his watch and saw it was almost 10:30. They all got up and said goodbye to Jeremy. Jeremy headed off back to his family and Skyy and her friends headed up one floor to the ramp that led to the pier.

It didn't take long for them to actually get off the ship, and it surprised them to see the train tracks lead right onto the pier. There was already a large line up about 6 meters from the tracks. Skyy grumbled but they all joined the line anyway. Staff for the train tour walked up and down the line with signs that said which tour this was. Izzy checked the signs and confirmed this was the right tour. They were facing a cut off mountain that the pier was attached to. Skyy grinned when she saw all the graffiti all over the rocks. It wasn't vandalism though; she could tell it was done with paint. There were a bunch of names, and a lot of cruise line logos with names of captains and how long they captained a ship for. There were also cruise line logos with how long a ship a cruised for before it was decommissioned. There were a lot of names of people with hearts around them or "just married" captions, but most of the art was for cruise lines that had been there. Skyy even saw a logo for their cruise line but it was for a different ship, not the Golden Princess. More people lined up behind them and it wasn't long before the train slowly started crawling down the tracks towards them.

Skyy leaned as far as she could to see the train and clicked pictures until she lost her footing and Izzy quickly grabbed her arm and pulled her upright again. She blushed and thanked him. He laughed calling her clumsy. Soon the train stopped where the tracks ended. They stood in front of the last car on the train. It was an old looking vintage type train. The kind of train you'd see in the Gold Rush days. It was a brown train with a dark grayish black roof. The windows and doors were all trimmed with gold metal and written in curvy gold letters on the side of the train read "Lake Squanga". Skyy wondered if that was lake they were going to pass by or something.

Soon the staff opened the doors and all the tourists rushed to get good seats. Fortunately Skyy and her friends were close to the doors of the last train car and they were the first ones on. They all went to the very back and sat in the last seats. The two couples automatically sat together so Skyy happily sat down beside Izzy. She kinda liked there being two couples. Then she and Izzy got to be third wheels together.

The inside of the train was nothing special really. It was beige walls and ceilings and a door at the end that lead to a small lookout that hung off the end of each train car. There were a lot of large windows that let the sun shine through and the seats were all booths that could fit about two people each. Tai and Mimi sat in the very back booth, then Matt and Sora sat in front of them. Then Izzy and Skyy sat across the isle from Matt and Sora. Izzy and Skyy were on the side that faced out to the ships. The others were on the side that faces the rock.

When all the passengers had boarded and sat down. The guide's voice rang through the intercom. He introduced himself and another guide. Slowly the train started moving and Skyy got excited. Soon the train sped up and they passed all the ships that were docked and started heading into a forested area. There wasn't much to take pictures of right now but Skyy kept leaning over Izzy to take pictures anyway. He laughed at her and finally switched seats so she was by the window. Skyy also took some pictures of her friends to pass time before something worthy of a picture passed them. Soon though they passed a very old cemetery called "Gold Rush Cemetery", that had a hero and a villain buried within it. The guide then went into this full out story from the gold rush days about these two dead guys.

So basically there was this bad guy called Jefferson Smith. He would con people for money. Because they were all away from their families this Jefferson guy had a telegraph and charged money for the people to telegraph their families. But what they didn't know was that the wire from the telegraph led nowhere and was just buried in the dirt. So this man conned all this money from the people. One day this other guy named Frank Reid had enough and got into a fight with Jefferson. They both pulled out their guns and shot. Jefferson was killed instantly but Frank died a couple days later in the hospital. After that Frank Reid was known as the town hero of Skagaway.

Since they passed by the cemetery so quickly Skyy didn't get a good picture of it. She asked her friends if they could go there after the tour and they agreed. Soon the train entered a thick forest area and the guide broke out into talking about the town and how it came to be because there was no specific scenery to look at. Skyy and Izzy broke out into conversation while waiting for some better scenery to pass by. Izzy took out his laptop after a while and started madly typing computer stuff. He had his digivice connected to it though so Skyy could tell he was doing something related to the digimon.

Soon the train emerged from the forest and they started crawling upwards on the side of a mountain. There where still a lot of trees but now you could see the peaks of mountains in-between clouds and rivers carving through the rocks downwards. Skyy was taking so many pictures she'd lost track of things she had already taken pictures of. Soon the doors at the back of each train car opened and passengers could go out onto the little decks to take pictures. Skyy immediately bounced up to go outside. Izzy left his laptop and followed her, not wanting to sit by himself. Skyy gasped when she walked out onto the deck. It was really small, could probably fit about five people. But because they were at the back of the train they got a good view of things they had passed. Skyy liked watching the tracks fade away behind them. The deck was a little rocky because of the bumpy tracks so Skyy and Izzy had to hold on tight to the railings. At one point Skyy leaned over to take a picture of the side of the train. Soon she felt Izzy's chest lightly touching her back. She turned around and the wind caused her hair to fly in his face. Izzy jumped and backed off. He had his arm arched around her with his hands on the railing on either side of her.

Skyy laughed when Izzy shook his head to get her hair out of his face. Skyy pushed some of it away.

"Ha ha, sorry Iz," She laughed. Izzy arched an eyebrow.

"Damn wind," he muttered then leaned slightly over her to look at the camera in her hands.

"Take any good pictures?" he asked. Skyy blushed at his proximity.

"Y-yeah! Here see," She turned around so her back was to the railing. It was kind of awkward because Izzy was slightly arched over her. She was happy though. She clicked through her pictures and sometimes paused to take a quick picture of something that passed by. Some of the other tourists on the deck got tired of being there and left, so only Izzy and Skyy and a professional photographer from their cruise ship were there. Skyy got curious and started asking the guy about his camera. Izzy let go of the railing so she could get past him, much to his disappointment. Izzy leaned on the railing and watched the scenery until Skyy was done talking. Soon the photographer left leaving the two of them by themselves. Skyy went to stand beside Izzy so that their arms were touching.

"It's really pretty up here isn't it?" Skyy sighed. She felt Izzy nod.

"Yeah, I'm glad we went on this tour," Izzy said.

"I hope I don't fill up my camera with pictures from just this tour" Skyy laughed. Izzy looked at her camera.

"How many pictures have you taken so far?" he asked.

"During the whole trip or just this tour?"

"The whole trip,"

"1768…"Skyy said.

"Wow! That's a lot," Izzy gasped, acting surprised. Skyy nudged him slightly. He was teasing her.

"Hey, when were old little shrivelled up people we'll have fun looking at these together! You'll be glad I took so many!" she huffed. Izzy was quiet for a second.

"You think we'll all still be together when we're old?" he asked looking at the tracks instead of her.

Skyy looked at him.

"Why not? Of course we'll still be together! We're all good friends!" she said. Izzy smiled lightly. Skyy kept looking at his profile.

Every time she stopped to really look at him it blew her away how good looking he really was. I mean sure he wasn't Jeremy or anything, but in her eyes he was very, very good looking. With his maroon hair against his tan skin and his black eyes, he was **extremely** good looking. And the way his mouth quirked when he grinned, she loved it all. Everything about him she just loved to bits. She would be heartbroken when he finally found someone that he loved, knowing it wouldn't be her. Suddenly Izzy turned to look at her.

"What?" he asked. Skyy jumped.

"Huh? What? What, what?" she asked nervously.

"You've been staring at me for the past five minuets," he said raising an eyebrow. Skyy turned beat red and she could feel her cheeks and ear heating up. Her fingers fumbled and she almost dropped her camera over the railing.

"Oh! Uh nothing, it's just…uhh there is an eyelash on your face!" she said even though there wasn't. Izzy blinked and put his hand up to his face.

"Huh? Really where?" he asked. Skyy raised her hand and pretended to pick an eyelash off his face and quickly pretended to flick it away so he wouldn't see.

"There! Gone," she said and quickly turned to look out at the mountain and trees. He smiled.

"Thanks," he said then turned. They stood in silence. Soon darkness surrounded them. They had gone through a tunnel. The light from the entrance of the tunnel slowly got smaller and smaller. The wind died somewhat and Skyy couldn't see Izzy beside her, she could still feel his arm touching hers though. She leaned her head on where she assumed his shoulder was and was glad to feel it under her head. She felt Izzy stiffen for a second and her heart skipped a beat. Would he shrug her off? Skyy bit her lip. But soon her heart melted happily when she felt his arm slide from the railing and wrap around her waist.

'_Yes!_' she thought and mentally pumped a fist in the air. They stood there until the train emerged from the tunnel and even for a while after. They were only interrupted when some tourist guy came through the door and jumped when he saw them.

"Oh! Hee, hee, sorry you two," the man said winking at them. Skyy spun around and jumped away from Izzy. He did the same. They were both beat red.

"Oh! Uhh, no we're sorry…I was leaving anyway," Skyy muttered in English and quickly scuttled back inside the train. Izzy slightly bowed to the guy in apology, which took him by surprise (considering he was American and didn't normally have people bow to him), and followed after Skyy.

When Skyy entered the train car her four friends were all huddled together whispering. Skyy gave them a weird look and when they noticed her they all broke apart quickly and stopped talking. She ignored them and sat down in her seat. Izzy sat down beside her and both were silent. Their cheeks still pink.

Soon the scenery all became the same. They reached the summit of a mountain and passed over the Canadian border. Somehow Skyy felt happy to be back in one of her countries. Even though she hadn't been born in Canada, and wasn't Canadian at all, she felt Canadian and this country was just another home to her. This wasn't the only time they were going to be in Canada on this cruise either. Their last port of call was Victoria, British Columbia. Skyy was excited to go there.

They passed lakes, trees, rock, and even some snow sometimes. Skyy stopped taking pictures until she saw some caribou and took pictures of them. But other than that everything seemed the same and she didn't see the point in taking more pictures. On the way back though her and Izzy switched places and he fell asleep against the window. Skyy kept taking pictures of him whilst she and Sora giggled about how cute he was when he was sleeping.

Only one thing bugged her about the tour. People would always stare or give them glances when they spoke in Japanese. Skyy almost wanted to tell them "**what**, we're Asian! Obviously we speak a different language! Stop looking at us like we're aliens!" in English just to throw them all off. You'd think it was understandable that because she was **from** Japan, and was **with** her Japanese friends, that's she'd be **speaking** Japanese. She ignored them for the most part though; sometimes she'd glare at someone until they turned away.

A while after passing the Canadian border they got to the halfway point and they turned around so they started heading back the way they came. the guide that had been talking the whole way up switched places with a female guide who started talking for the trip back. The two couples fell into conversation so Skyy went over to her seat with Izzy. She'd been sitting with Sora and Mimi whilst Tai and Matt were out on the deck. When the boys came back Skyy was kind of ignored.

Izzy was still asleep so Skyy curled up her feet on the booth so her knees were against her chest. She turned her head to rest on her knees. She'd hoped it looked like she was looking out the window, when actually she was just looking at Izzy.

Skyy started getting lost in her thoughts. Soon, before she could even think about it, the train stopped at the pier. She was snapped out of her daze when she felt the train halt. Izzy woke up from the movement and yawned, stretching his arms in the air. Skyy smiled at him.

"Hmmm…are we back?" he asked sleepily. Skyy resisted the urge to touch his face.

"Yep! You slept the whole way!" Skyy laughed and got up from her seat. Izzy looked around taking in his surroundings. He quickly packed up his laptop, which he'd left open in the empty booth in front of them.

"So you up for a hike to that cemetery?" Tai said coming up behind Skyy and putting his hands on his hips. Skyy smiled.

"Yeah!" Skyy said. Mimi shrugged.

"I've got runners on so I'm okay with it," she said. They all decided and quickly got off the train. They asked one of the staff members which was the best way to get there and the man pointed them in the right direction.

Soon they were on a gravel road that led back the direction they'd gone on the train. It didn't take long to get there, maybe 20 minuets. The cemetery wasn't very busy. It was on a hill with lots of rocks and trees. Skyy wondered how they could keep a cemetery here. There were paths circling around all of the old graves. The graves were all from the gold rush days so some of them were falling apart and had replacement stones so people could still read the names. Skyy quickly found the grave stones of the two men mentioned in that story. She took some pictures of them and also some other really old stones. They weren't there for very long before Tai broke out into the spooky stories again. He did the same thing at Sora's Aunt and Uncle's trailer. And just like last time, Sora and Mimi got creeped out and wanted to leave. Skyy didn't mind leaving either. Not because of the stories, but just because the cemetery got boring.

So they left and walked back to the pier. It started getting chilly and Skyy was getting a little tired. They all talked on the way back and it seemed everyone else was tired too. They all had no desire to go into town, so they decided to go back on the boat. When they got to the pier they climbed the ramp to their cruise ship and checked in again.

Once they got back they didn't really know what to do and ended up going up to the 14th deck, the pool deck. There were some blankets on the chairs also they all sat down and grabbed some blankets. Skyy stretched out on one of the pool chairs. Sora started playing with her hair. The feeling relaxed her and made Skyy's eyelids droop. She tried to stay in the conversations as much as possible but soon sleep overcame her and the last thing she remembered was Sora talking about how the government has found so many ways to con people's money without them noticing. Skyy was kind of glad she's fallen asleep so she wouldn't have to stick around for that conversation.

Soon though, Sora was shaking her awake. Skyy grumbled at the disturbance. The blanket she was curled under had gotten warm because of her body heat.

"C'mon sleepyhead, we're leaving!" Sora laughed. Skyy blinked a couple times and sat up. She noticed only Mimi and Sora were with her.

"Where did the guys go?" she asked, rubbing her eyes.

"They went to play ping pong for a while," Sora said and stood up. She had previously been kneeling beside Skyy. Skyy smiled to herself. She imagined Tai and Matt playing ping pong and Izzy sitting in a chair typing away on his laptop. He always did that in his spare time.

"C'mon, I'm hungry let's go get some pizza from the buffet," Mimi said. Skyy jumped up from her chair at the sound of food.

"Sure! I'm up for pizza; I haven't eaten since this morning," Skyy said. The three girls headed straight for the buffet and got large two large slices of pizza each. They sat at a table and chatted happily. As they were eating the intercom came on saying that they were leaving port shortly. The girls watched through the windows in the buffet as the ship slowly came to life and started edging away from the pier.

When the girls finished their food they grabbed some ice cream at the little ice cream stand just outside the entrance to the buffet. They walked around for a little while as the sun was setting. Skyy clicked a few pictures of the sunset before she continued walking with her friends.

Eventually, after they maybe walked the entire ship two times, the three girls found themselves at the teen club. Surprisingly there was no one there. The DJ and the supervisor women were there, and the DJ was playing some tunes at a low volume. Other than that there was a small group of teens in a far corner and that was it. The girls found their usual group of chairs and benches and made themselves comfortable.

"Woow it's already 10:00, we were strolling for a while, I wonder where the guys are?" Sora wondered allowed.

"Probably strolling around too, watching a movie, swimming, playing bingo, the list is endless," Skyy shrugged. Sora nodded.

"Maan! I can't believe I'm turning 17 tomorrow!" Mimi sighed. Skyy sighed too.

"Yeaah…it feels like only yesterday that Davis and the others joined the "group" and all that stuff happened..." Sora said. Skyy's memories flashed back to when she was in the hospital with her leukemia, how her crest of life saved her and how she first realized during that time that she was in love with Izzy. A small smiled cracked at her lips.

"So much has happened, I mean we're going to University soon, and you and Tai are together, Kari, TK and all them are in high school," Sora continued.

"Boo you're making me feel old," Skyy chuckled. Sora grinned.

"I don't know about you guys but I can't wait to be a hot university student!" Mimi said. Skyy and Sora laughed.

"Anyway, coming back to Mimi and Tai's newfound relationship, who thought that would've ever happened?" Sora said. Skyy nodded.

"I know right! This time last year we would've denied the whole thing!" Skyy said leaning bit closer to Sora. Mimi raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, it's like when you guys weren't together it wasn't even a possibility, but as soon as it happened you two seemed to be so perfect for each other!" Sora sighed. Skyy nodded vigorously. Mimi cleared her throat.

"I'm so glad my love life is so interesting and impossible for you two to comprehend," Mimi rolled her eyes. Skyy and Sora laughed.

"But still Mimi, this time last year would you have ever thought of this happening?" Skyy asked. Mimi cocked her head.

"Honestly, no. I probably would've laughed at the idea," Mimi smiled, "I used to think Tai was a big-headed idiot, and too stupid to take seriously."

Skyy and Sora laughed. Mimi continued.

"But as soon as we started talking more frequently online, I don't know there seemed to be more to him than I thought. And the more I thought about him the more I realized what a good guy he actually was," Mimi smiled shyly.

"Aww your so cute Meems, I'm soo happy for you two, it's about time Tai got himself a girl," Skyy said. Sora nodded.

"I think you're his first girlfriend too," Sora pondered. Skyy nodded.

"She is," she clarified. Mimi smiled.

"Somehow that seems so cute, I mean I've dated before but he seems so innocent now for not having dated yet," Mimi said.

"Well it's not like anyone's never asked him. At school he gets many love letters and girls asking him out. He's quite a catch at our high school. Since Matt's already taken anyway," Skyy winked at Sora, who laughed. Mimi's eyes widened.

"Really? Oh…" she mumbled. Skyy grinned.

"Don't worry, we'll watch him when we get back, we'll make sure he's only devoted to you Meems!" Sora said. Mimi grinned.

"Don't worry, he's the kinda guy who only devotes himself to one girl, and it takes him a while to get over a girl, believe me," Skyy said thinking of how long it took for Tai to get over Sora. Mimi and Sora gave her confused looks but Skyy just waved her hand at them.

"Yeah…that's the only thing that sucks," Mimi sighed. Skyy and Sora perked up.

"What am I gonna do when this cruise is over and we have to leave each other?" Mimi mumbled. Sora frowned.

"Well, you can always call him, and there's the internet?" Sora suggested. Mimi nodded sadly.

"You can come visit him, I know right when we get home he'll start saving for a plane ticket to go see you," Skyy said. Mimi smiled at this.

"Yeah, I can save too, we'll visit each other, during university, and the summer too," Mimi said, seeming more confident. Skyy smiled.

"Speaking of university, where do you all want to go?" Sora asked, changing the subject.

"I want to go to Sheridan College," Skyy said bluntly. Mimi and Sora looked confused.

"Sheridan College? I've never heard of it," Sora said.

"That's because it's in Canada," Skyy said. Sora and Mimi's eyes widened.

"What! You want to go to college in Canada? But! But!" Mimi sputtered. Sora looked upset too.

"Don't worry! It'll only be for four years and Sheridan has the best art programs in the world!" Skyy said. Sora frowned.

"But…Skyy you'll be gone for so long…." She mumbled. Skyy smiled and hugged her.

"Aww! I'll be back soon and I'll come home during the summers!" Skyy said.

"Skyyyyy, it'll suck with you not there, you always make everything more fun, you're the light of our group," Sora mumbled. Mimi nodded sadly. Mimi didn't seem as upset because she lived in New York and Sheridan College was only a few hours away.

"Well we still have the rest of the year and I'll send letters and visit! I'll be back for Christmas so don't worry yourself over it," Skyy said. Sora nodded.

"Anyway, where are you two planning to go?" Skyy said, moving the subject off of herself.

"I want to go to Tokyo Fashion College," Sora said. Mimi and Skyy raised their eyebrows.

"Fashion?" they mimicked. Sora nodded.

"Yeah, I've been interested in it for a while, but I only recently decided to take it on as a career." Sora smiled. Skyy nodded.

"Somehow that seems like a good match for you," she said.

"I want to be a chef….and have my own daytime cooking show!" Mimi blurted. Sora and Skyy's eyes widened.

"Seriously?" Sora asked. Mimi nodded determinedly.

"Yes! I love cooking! My mom and I cook things all the time! I especially love making desserts and pastries! And I naturally need to be on television so I want to have my own daytime cooking show!" Mimi said. Skyy smiled.

"That seems to totally match you too," she chuckled. Mimi beamed.

"What do you want to be Skyy?" Sora asked. Skyy leaned back into her chair.

"Hmmm probably a painter, or a photographer, but mostly a painter," she said smiling.

"But you can't just live off of painting when you start out, I mean of course your going to become the best known painter of this century," Sora laughed, "but what about before that?"

Skyy thought about it for a second.

"Maybe I can work in an art store? Haha, noo I don't know…" she thought. Mimi smiled.

"What about marriage? Do you guys want to have a family?" Mimi asked. Sora squealed.

"Oh of course I do!" she said happily. Skyy's eyes widened. She'd never thought about marriage, or families. All she knew was that she wanted to paint. Families weren't on her list.

"I want to have two children! It doesn't matter what they are but I want two!" Sora said giddily. "And I want a big western wedding! In a really big, old church!" she went on.

Skyy scrunched her face at the thought of a big tacky wedding. Mimi giggled.

"I want a really pretty wedding, that's all, and cute little girl!" she sighed. Both girls turned to Skyy. Skyy jumped a little and started fidgeting with her fingers.

"What about you Skyy? How many children do you want?" they asked. Skyy blinked stupidly a few times.

"Oh….kids…..I don't know, I never thought about it…I don't really care," she muttered. Mimi frowned.

"Heey! How can you not care? Do you even know what kind of wedding you want?" she asked. Skyy pondered it for a second. She grinned.

"A shot gun wedding with Elvis as the preacher," she chuckled. Sora and Mimi rolled their eyes. Skyy lifted her hands.

"Okay, okay! I guess…a really simple wedding with not a lot of people, either outside or in a small tiny church with all the windows open and the breeze coming in. There has to be a lot of really pretty flowers and everything is white and the room is filled with sunlight," Skyy explained. Sora grinned.

"Aww that sounds so cute! You've definitely thought about it" Sora winked. Skyy blushed slightly. To be honest, she hadn't actually. Not saying she just came up with it right on the spot. But she had a vision of this kind of wedding randomly in one of her dreams a couple years ago. She remembered feeling really happy during that part in the dream. So she automatically wanted her wedding to be like that. Skyy just shrugged at Sora's comment.

"Aww man! This cruise is amazing! I wish we could stay here forever!" Mimi sighed, stretching up her arms in her seat. Sora smiled and nodded.

"I'd agree with you there, but I think Pleo would kill me if I never came back," Skyy grinned to herself thinking of her digimon friend she left behind. Mimi laughed at this.

"Ohh yeah, Pleomon is so clingy to you, she'd be very upset. But now that I think about it I'd miss Palmon way too much! I haven't seen her in ages!" Mimi whined, frowning. Mimi's plant-like digimon flashed into Skyy's mind.

"Yeaah, I haven't seen Biyomon in ages either, we all need to get together when Mimi finally decides to come to Japan to visit Tai," Sora said. Mimi perked up and nodded happily.

"True, but I see Pleo and Kota all the time, they won't leave me alone," Skyy joked. Sora laughed.

"By the way, I meant to ask, how's Kotamamon doing? Is he still bitter towards you?" Sora asked. Skyy grinned.

"Ohh, he hates me," she chuckled, "but he always comes to visit with Pleomon so there is definitely something still luring him here, whether it's the memory of sis or just my close connection with her." Skyy cocked her head.

"Anyway I don't really mind, gives me more chances to tease him" Skyy laughed. Sora and Mimi grinned.

"I think we should visit Yuki when we get back, just for the sake of saying hello," Sora said. Skyy smiled fondly.

"I visit her all the time but I think she'd like to see all you guys again," Skyy said. It made her happy when her friends came with her to visit her sister's grave. Especially when her sister, Yuki, meant so much to Skyy and had such a big impact on her life.

The girls chatted some more about their futures and plans they had. They had never really seriously talked about these things before so they were talking for quite a while. Soon it came to be 12:00 and the boys walked into the teen club. Skyy spotted their three male friends and waved them over. They all quickly said there hellos. The boys had really only come to pick the girls up.

The girls had become tired and the boys seemed a little drowsy as well. As the six teens walked down to their rooms Skyy discovered that the boys had actually been scowering the entire boat for the girls for the past hour, and before that were hanging around the Vista lounge. She laughed asking Tai how they could possibly just sit in a lounge for hours when no events were even being held there. He just said they'd been chatting…and actually fell asleep at one point. Tai said it was when Izzy had to wake up both him and Matt that they decided it was time to find the girls and head to bed. She laughed at their silliness.

When they reached their staterooms the girls gave the guys all little hugs. Sora and Mimi gave Matt and Tai little pecks on the cheeks before saying goodnight. Skyy and Izzy awkwardly said goodbye and disappeared into their staterooms.

Skyy was the first one in her room and as soon as she glanced to her bed she saw a neatly folded, crisp piece of paper with her name scrawled on it lying by her pillow. Sora looked around Skyy and saw the letter, she grinned sleepily.

"Yaay! Skyy got another letter! Reeeeaaaad it," she said. Skyy slugged over to her bed and flopped down, grabbing the note. Sora and Mimi sat beside her and leaned in to see the note.

** In the locomotive, Lake Squanga is in scripted, I see your face glowing bright behind your camera lens in the sunlight. From, X**

Skyy blinked at the note for a second. Mimi sat up.

"Lake Squanga? What's that?" she asked. Sora scrunched her face too.

"What's a "Locomotive"?" she asked.

"It's a word for a train," Mimi said.

"Well we did go on a train today…but what does Lake Squanga mean?" Sora asked picking herself up from the bed and slouching onto her own. Suddenly Skyy remembered something. She grabbed her camera and started clicking through pictures furiously.

Mimi perked up.

"What is it Skyy?" she asked. Suddenly Skyy's eyes widened.

"He was on the train!" she gasped. Sora raised an eyebrow.

"The train? You mean the one we were on today?" she asked. Skyy nodded.

"See look! Here is a picture of our train car!" she showed the picture to Mimi, who was closest to her. Mimi squinted at the picture. Then her eyes lit up.

"Lake Squanga! It says Lake Squanga on the side of the train!" she said. Sora perked up and looked at the picture.

"That means he must have been in our train car!" Skyy said.

"Well, that doesn't mean he was** in** the train car, he could've been outside and just saw you board it," Sora said. Skyy shook her head and looked back at the note.

"No, he talks about seeing my face behind the camera lense, also he says "**in** the locomotive", so he must have been **in** the train car," she said. Sora 'hmmm'd'.

"Do you remember any guys in our train car?" Mimi asked. Sora shrugged.

"There were a couple of guys I think I remember who sat in the front of the car, but I didn't pay much attention to them. They looked about our age…" Sora thought. Skyy peered at the note again. Darn! It was always somewhere or someone she wasn't paying attention to…who could X be! Skyy started flipping through her pictures again to see if she had taken any of the inside of the car. She finally found some and a light gasp left her mouth. Sora looked over.

"What is it? Did you find something?" she asked. Skyy nodded.

"I'm not saying this is him, but look at that guy," she said, she pointed to a boy sitting in the front of the train car in the picture. Sora grinned when she saw him.

"Ohh he's cute" she smiled. Mimi peeked over too.

"Oh wow!" she said. Skyy nodded.

"Yeah! He's looking right at the camera! Do you think that was by accident?" Skyy asked.

"I don't know, but if we see him at the teen center you should approach him, see if he knows who you are or something," Mimi asked. Skyy nodded.

"Yeaah…" Skyy looked back at the camera. Sora and Mimi stretched and got up to get ready for bed. Skyy peered at the boy in the picture. He looked around her age, maybe a year or two older. He had shaggy brown hair and dark eyes; they were hard to see in the picture. He was wearing a blue hoodie. He was American and didn't look half bad. Skyy kept looking at him until the bathroom became free. She wondered. Could he be the boy sending the notes? Could he be X? Or was the fact that he was looking at the camera be purely accidental? There wasn't really enough proof to justify him as a possibility. But there was **slight** proof.

As Skyy got ready and soon, into bed, she kept mulling over the hoodie boy in the picture. She would definitely need to approach him if she saw him. Because he was on the train she knew he was on their boat because that train tour was only for tourists on the Golden Princess. She needed to figure out who this X guy was. It was possible he was one of the guys in the teen center who hug out with a different crowd so Skyy never noticed him. Skyy couldn't get him off of her mind as she drifted off to sleep.

The next day they'd all be getting up early to see Tracey Arm. Also, Skyy hadn't forgotten, that "date" she set up Izzy to hang out in the Piazza. She definitely didn't want to miss that. Skyy soon started dreaming of days to come as she fell into a deeper sleep and that slight rocking of the boat cradled her thoughts. As Mimi's birthday approached, and the cruise was ending, it seemed the magic of being abroad was drifting as well. Skyy didn't really want it to end so quickly.

Day Six: The End


	7. Day 7: Wednesday

Digimon Adventure 02 – Summer in Alaska

Day Seven

_BRRRIIINNNGGG! BRIIINNNGGGGGGGGG!_

Skyy bolted upward as the shrill sound of the phone in the stateroom filled her ears. The darkness that greeted her eyes seemed almost natural now. Skyy groggily slipped from her bed. She could tell that Sora and Mimi were awake because their breathing was light. When they slept their breathing got heavier. Skyy cursed them for pretending not to hear the phone. She tiredly picked up the receiver and greeted the voice.

"Hello, this is Skyy Tsutsumi speaking how may I help you? If you wanted to speak to my parents they're busy at the moment but if you hold on a second longer I'm available to give you their names and cell phone numbers so you can further contact them, if so—" Skyy blathered on, not realizing she was still half asleep.

"Skyy…Skyy!" Tai's voice interrupted her speech. Skyy blinked stupidly a couple times.

"Oh...Tai? how'er you this morning?" Skyy yawned. Tai laughed on the other end of the phone.

"Dude, wake up!" Tai said. Skyy nodded to herself.

"Yes…waking up…please leave a message after the beep….beep," Skyy mumbled. Tai laughed again.

"We're at the Tracy Arm, tell Sora and Mimi to wake up and for all of you get up here," Tai said. Skyy cocked her head.

"Why does you phoning in the morning and asking us to come up to the deck seem like déjà vu?" she asked. Tai sighed.

"That's because it is, now just come up here! You'll love it the view is amazing!" Tai said. Skyy smiled.

"Pictures?" she mumbled.

"Lots, now come up!" Tai urged. Skyy nodded again even though he couldn't see her.

"Okay…bye-bye, see you soon," she said. Tai chuckled and said goodbye. She hung up and wandered over to the end of Sora's bed. Skyy grabbed the end of the bed sheets and pulled sleepily as she headed for the bathroom, dragging the sheets with her. Sora moaned as the sheets slipped off and the air brushed her skin.

"Skyyyyyy…what the frigggg" Sora whined. Skyy cracked a smile and turned on the lights in the stateroom. Mimi now groaned as well as the light flooded the room in a split second.

"Lord Taichi Kamiya is summoning us to the upper deck," Skyy said and she slipped into the bathroom to wash her face.

"What the hell for?" Sora asked and she sat up and tried feeling around for her sheets.

"We're at the Tracy Arm; Tai says the view is amazing. Sora you missed the whales the other day so I'm forcing you to come see this glacier," Skyy's voice echoed from the tiny bathroom. Sora groaned, finally giving up on finding her sheets. Mimi was silent as she climbed down from her bed and sleepily joined Skyy in the bathroom.

The girls got ready quickly. They were feeling sluggish this morning so they just put on some track pants and sweaters. Even Mimi succumbed to wearing her pink track pants and big baggy light pink sweater. As the girls put on their shoes they didn't bother putting on their coats- they had sweaters on so they figured they wouldn't need coats.

As they slumped up stairs to the deck the boys were on, Sora was half asleep and kept bumping into the walls. Mimi and Skyy laughed at her and eventually took her arms and linked them with their own so Sora could have some support and didn't fall over in the hallway. When they arrived outside Skyy closed her eyes as the cool air hit her face.

"Hey! There you are! We were waiting for you," Matt's voice rang out. Skyy opened her eyes and looked around. Matt, Tai and Izzy stood waiting for them right by the doors. Skyy smiled.

"Oh hey! Here, Matt can you grab Sora? She's gonna collapse soon, and she's heavier than she looks," Skyy said and her and Mimi dropped Sora's half asleep form into Matt's surprised arms. Matt chuckled and lightly shook Sora awake. She mumbled something and he laughed and hugged her lightly. Tai kissed Mimi as a greeting and once again Skyy and Izzy seemed to be third wheels together. Izzy smiled sheepishly at her.

"C'mon, the view is really impressive, did you bring your camera?" he asked as the two sets of couples walked further ahead. Skyy grinned and held up her camera and took a picture of Izzy. Izzy blinked stupidly then rolled his eyes. Skyy chuckled.

"Yep!" she said. Izzy smirked as Skyy skipped past him and over to the deck railing.

As Skyy looked at the view her breath was taken away yet again. The glacier was huge, and so, so **blue**. It was like looking at something from a postcard! Skyy immediately started clicking pictures. Small chunks of the glacier floated around the in dark blue waters below. The glacier was almost the same height as the mountain it was attached to and every time a chunk of ice would fall off a loud crack echoed throughout the area and the ice would slowly fall into the water creating a wave of water to ripple out from it. On some of the larger ice berg chunks floating in the water some seals were busy lounging and lazing around on top of them. Skyy laughed and took pictures of the seals as well. The smaller chunks of ice brushed against the ship and floated away lightly. The water was so crystal and shined off of the floating ice chunks.

At one point another cruise ship came up and was about three miles away. The six teens could hear the yells of the passengers on the other boat skipping across the water. They shouted and waved back, even though the passengers on the other boat were nothing but little specks. Skyy didn't stop taking pictures until she felt Izzy come up beside her.

"It's really pretty isn't it?" he asked. She nodded and lowered her camera.

"It's amazing! I'm definitely going to paint something like this when I get home!" Skyy said excitedly. Izzy grinned at her. She smiled back at him. Somehow this morning was déjà vu all over again. It was like the other day when they came up to see the whales.

Skyy glanced at her other friends and snapped pictures of them. Matt was holding on to Sora's waist as she sluggishly looked at the glacier. Her arms were dangling over the side and her eyes were drooping as Matt tried to keep her awake. Tai was hugging Mimi from behind and they were talking to each other. Tai's head was resting on her shoulder and her head was resting against his. Skyy's stomach became warm looking at them. She wanted that so badly. The warmth of being with someone you love, and having them return your feelings. Skyy glanced at Izzy. He was leaning on the railing and gazing out at the scenery. Skyy pouted. She hit him over the back and he jumped, surprised. The hit caused him to buckle forward a little and he coughed.

"W-what?" he asked, whipping around to look at her. Skyy pouted and sunk down onto her knees.

"GAH! Why does my love life **SUCK**?" she whined. Izzy stared at her wide-eyed. The other four looked over at her too with surprised and confused looks. Tai laughed.

"Oh, don't mind her she's lost it this morning," Tai said and turned back to look at the glacier. Matt shrugged and turned around as well. Skyy frowned.

"Oh shut it," she muttered. Izzy held out his hand.

"Um, are you alright?" he asked. Skyy 'humph'd and grabbed his hand as he pulled her up to her feet.

"Just wallowing in self-pity," she muttered.

"I don't understand."

"Never mind…"

Skyy leaned on the railing and put her camera away. Izzy did the same but kept glancing back at her. Skyy was still pouting angrily and was chewing on her bottom lip. Suddenly a gust of wind came and she shivered lightly. Oh great. Now she was cold. The other two girls were probably fine because they had their male heat warmers stuck to them. Skyy wished she had brought her coat. Skyy then heard a zipping sound and looked over at Izzy. She raised an eyebrow when she noticed him unzipping his jacket.

"Iz, aren't you cold? why're you—" but she was cut off when Izzy held out his coat to her.

"Here," he mumbled, a light blush dusting his cheeks. Skyy felt her face get warm.

"Huh?" was all she could say.

"Your cold right? You can wear my jacket for a while if you wish," he muttered, "but I understand if you don't want—"

"Okay," Skyy said simply and took the coat. Izzy smiled. Skyy slipped the coat over her sweater and sighed as Izzy's scent enveloped her. She zipped the large coat all the way up to her chin. She then glanced over to Izzy and noticed that he was just wearing a light sweater. She grinned and moved behind him. Izzy didn't notice but jumped as soon as Skyy's arms wrapped around his torso.

"H-hey what're you?" he asked, his light blush deepening. Skyy laughed.

"You're cold too right? Don't think that you'll get away with saying your not," Skyy said over his shoulder. Izzy was about to argue.

"So now I'll warm you up!" Skyy said happily. Skyy moved back beside him and unzipped the zipper. She took out one of her arms from the sleeves and enveloped half of the jacket around Izzy's shoulders. Izzy was hesitant but soon melted beside her and put his arm through the empty sleeve.

"Ha, HA! Now we're like the people whose bodies are stuck together," Skyy said. Izzy chuckled.

"Siamese twins?" he asked.

"Yeah!" Skyy said. She tried zipping up the jacket but it wasn't big enough to fit both of them, despite how thin they both were. She ended up giving up and Izzy laughed at her efforts. They both ended up just leaning on the railing, enjoying each other's body heat. What they both didn't realize though was that Mimi and Tai had seen both of them and conspired to take pictures of them.

Skyy grinned triumphantly to herself. Maybe self-pity wasn't so bad? Especially if every time it she did pity herself these kinds of things were going to be the outcome.

Finally the teens got a little tired of the scenery; there were only so many pictures you could take when the photos all started looking the same. They decided to go get some breakfast as the buffet was now open. Skyy and Izzy tried to walk whilst still being in Izzy's jacket. They waddled about two meters before almost tripping over each other's feet. They both gave up in a fit of laughter and Skyy slipped out of the jacket, albeit unwillingly.

When they found a table they all grabbed some plates and got in line for food. Izzy kept putting too much food on Skyy's plate as a joke before she started putting more food on his plate. It was when they decided they didn't want the food and left it on a random table that the waiters gave them shameful looks. Izzy and Skyy just ducked their heads, hiding their grins and went back to the beginning of the line to get their real breakfasts.

The six teens ate breakfast happily and watched as the boat drifted away from the big glacier. Since the rest of the day was at sea they mulled over things they wanted to do that day. Skyy bit her fork as she gazed at the daily log.

"Ummm, there isn't much going on that's we'd be into…" Skyy said. Mimi was leaning over her looking at the schedule as well. Suddenly her face lit up.

"Oh! Look! A Rumba lesson! Oh can we go? Please! Pleaaaaase?" Mimi said pouting. Skyy stared at her. Mimi had the puppy dog eyes and her hands clasped together. Skyy sighed.

"Well, I don't care, the boys are your biggest challenge, ask them," Skyy shrugged. Mimi squealed and turned her attention to Tai. He jumped as he knew what was coming.

"Tai can we please go? You want to dance with me riiight?" Mimi said resting her head on his shoulder and pulling the puppy dog eyes again. Tai's face was blank and had a somewhat resistant look on it.

"Uhhhh…"He mumbled. He pleaded Izzy and Matt for input with his eyes. Matt grinned.

"I don't know, a Rumba lesson sounds like fun, would you dance with me Sora?" he asked sweetly. Sora beamed.

"Yes! It would be fun!" she said happily and Matt smiled back at her. Tai glared at the two of them slightly. Skyy glanced at Izzy who had an indecisive look on his face. She looked back over to Tai and Mimi, who was still pulling the pleading face. Suddenly Tai sunk into his seat sighing loudly.

"Arrgh, fiiine! For your birthday I will," Tai said smiling, almost grudgingly. Mimi beamed.

"Yaay!" she squealed wrapping her arms around his neck and kissing him on the cheek. Tai smiled and a light blush hit his cheeks. Skyy grinned at them. She looked back down at the planner.

"Well, it's in an hour and a half so we still have some time to kill," Skyy said still biting her fork and twirling it in her mouth because she had no food left on her plate.

"We can go play ping-pong?" Matt suggested. Skyy perked up.

"Oh yeaaaah! Let's go do that! I haven't gotten to play ping pong yet! I wanted to play!" Skyy said clapping her hands.

"Oh! The kid's happy, better do what she wants," Tai teased. Skyy glared at him. He stuck his tongue out at her playfully.

"Well I'm up for it, we played yesterday and I still have to whoop Tai's butt," Matt challenged. Tai grinned.

"You wish blondie, I'll whoop your ass all over again," Tai replied. Matt laughed. Sora and Mimi and Izzy agreed as well and the six set off to find the ping pong tables beside the pool.

When they all got there they were pleased to find that there were two empty ping pong tables. Skyy grabbed a paddle and found a ping pong ball on the ground. Izzy went over to a spare chair with his laptop and opened it up, turning it on. Skyy eyed him slyly.

"I challennnge…Izzy!" she declared loudly. Izzy looked up from his laptop, startled.

"W-what?" he stuttered. Skyy grinned.

"I challenge you to a ping pong match! Get your butt up here and face me like a man!" Skyy said. Izzy blinked stupidly a few times.

"….But I suck a ping pong…actually any physical activity in general…" Izzy said, an embarrassed blush on his cheeks. Skyy shrugged.

"Whatever, I probably suck at it too, I've only ever played once in my life and I lost," she said laughing. Tai and Matt had already gotten into a heated match with Sora and Mimi cheering happily on the side lines and making crude comments trying to get the two boys to slip up.

"I don't know..." Izzy mumbled. Skyy sighed and walked over. She pushed his laptop down so that it clicked shut and brought her face right up to his. She had a fake glare in her eyes and Izzy backed away slightly, his blush turning red.

"If you don't play ping pong with me I'll come into your cabin at night, steal your laptop and do scary things to you whilst you innocently slumber," she said, trying to not crack up. Izzy's eyes widened and his face suddenly went crimson red. Something just clicked in Skyy's mind after she saw his reaction.

"Oh wait! Don't think about it in a **dirty** way!" she yelled, turning red and backing away. Izzy laughed.

"Too late! Okay, okay, I'll play you," he sighed in defeat and put his laptop back into his bag.

"That's what she said!" Tai yelled suddenly. Both Skyy and Izzy turned bright red. Izzy whipped around to face Tai who was laughing.

"T-that's not what I **meant**!" he yelled. The other four laughed and even Skyy let out a giggle. Izzy turned away in a huff and grabbed a ping pong paddle.

Neither Skyy nor Izzy really knew the rules so they just kind of hit the ball back and forth, seeing how long they could keep hitting it before someone messed up. Eventually an hour passed by. Skyy and Izzy got tired after half an hour and Izzy went back to his laptop and watched the rest of his friends play over the top of the screen. Skyy got into a couple games with Mimi and Sora but Tai and Matt kept dominating the second ping pong table. They kept going "okay best two of three, okay best three out of five, okay best four out of six!" and the list went on. Eventually Tai held his own and beat Matt four games out of seven. Of course this only caused Matt to challenge Tai to another game at some point.

Mimi glanced at her pink wrist watch.

"Heey, the Rumba lesson is going to start in ten minuets!" she said. Tai and Matt looked over from their ping pong table.

"Oh okay, do you want to head over there now then?" Tai asked. Mimi nodded. Skyy glanced at Izzy who was packing up his laptop. If Matt was dancing with Sora…and Tai was dancing with Mimi, does that mean she'd get to dance with Izzy. She smiled lightly to herself at the thought of it.

As the teens put the paddles and ping pong balls away Skyy saw a flash of blonde in the corner of her eyes. She looked over and saw Jeremy waltzing over with a big goofy smile on his face.

"Hey!" he said, waving. Sora and Mimi perked up seeing him.

"Hi Jeremy!" they said smiling enthusiastically. Izzy looked up and frowned somewhat. Tai and Matt high-fived Jeremy happily when he came up to them. Skyy smiled.

"Hey! What's up?" she asked giving him a little hug as a hello.

"Not much, I saw you guys playing ping pong and decided to come see you," he said.

"Oh we're actually going to a Rumba lesson right now," Skyy said. Jeremy cocked his head.

"You? A Rumba lesson?" he chuckled. Mimi stepped forward a little.

"Do you want to come?" she asked. Jeremy looked at her. He shrugged.

"Sure! Sounds interesting," he laughed. Skyy smiled.

"Ahh, but who shall I dance with? Are you free Skyy?" Jeremy said winking. Skyy looked up at him.

"Oh…uh well, yeah I guess," she laughed nervously. She glanced over to Izzy.

"Oh! But then who'll Izzy dance with?" she said quickly. Izzy looked up.

"Oh! Me? Dancing? Haha nooo thanks, I think I'll just watch," he laughed. Skyy's heart sank a little.

"Aww, but everyone else is dancing, c'mooon" Skyy whined. Jeremy put an arm around Izzy's shoulders.

"Yeah c'mon man, you'll get to dance a sexy dance with a sexy girl!" Jeremy said enthusiastically. Izzy grinned but shook his head.

"Yeaah, I'm good, I'll take pictures of you guys with Skyy's camera, is that ok?" Izzy asked, looking at Skyy. Skyy pouted a little.

"Yeah I guess," she said. She didn't want to force him to do anything. Though, she wanted to dance with him. The seven headed to the Vista Lounge and arrived just as the instructor was setting up. As the instructor introduced herself, she turned on the music and showed a couple of moves. All the couples got onto the dance floor. Skyy and Jeremy were giggling the whole time and didn't seem to take it seriously. First the instructor would show them a step, they'd mimic it, and then they'd do the move to music. It was all very repetitive. And Skyy couldn't help but laugh a little at the couples taking it a little too seriously. Mimi and Tai seemed to be doing well. Mimi kept laughing when Tai messed up a little but over all he got the hang of it very well. Sora and Matt were good too. Skyy and Jeremy were okay…..yeah...okay. Skyy kept smiling when she saw Izzy snapping pictures or them. He laughed behind the camera at their efforts.

In the middle of the lesson Skyy looked over to the entrance of the lounge and saw a group of teenage boys come in. she stopped for a second when she recognized one of the boys in the group.

"Hoodie boy!" she mumbled, startled. Jeremy looked at her.

"What?" he asked. Skyy snapped her head to him.

"Oh, nothing, never mind," she mumbled, Jeremy just shrugged. Skyy tried getting Mimi or Sora's attention by waving her hand. Mimi finally saw and gave her a confused look. Skyy jabbed a finger in the direction of the Hoodie boy. Mimi followed her finger and when her eyes landed on the guy she gasped. She looked back to Skyy and mouthed, "It's him!" Skyy nodded.

Skyy looked back over at the boy and was startled yet again. He was looking right at her! Skyy blushed a little but kept watching him from the corner of her eye. The group of boys sat at the bar with their backs to the dance floor. Only the Hoodie boy sat with his back to the bar and facing the Rumba lesson.

He was wearing an orange t-shirt and his hair was still that messy, floppy kind of style. Skyy started feeling self conscious as the Hoodie boy kept looking at her through the whole lesson.

When the lesson was finally over Skyy quickly got off the dance floor with Jeremy. Mimi stretched her arms in the air.

"Ahh! That was fun! Thank you Taii!" she sing-songed and she kissed him. Tai smiled against her kiss.

"No problem Meems," he said against her mouth. She smiled and kissed him again. Skyy went over behind Izzy's chair and leaned on his shoulder.

"So did you get any good pictures?" she laughed. Izzy fumbled with the camera in his hand.

"Oh! Uh yeah! We can look at them afterward though right?" he said quickly. Skyy cocked her head.

"Uh, yeah I guess, anyway what do we want to do now?" she asked turning to face the others. Sora and Matt shrugged. Skyy quickly glanced over to the bar. She noticed that the group of boys had left. She assumed they left near the end of the lesson without her knowing. She scanned the room and was surprised when she was the boys in a group by the entrance. They were all looking over at her with big goofy smiles on their faces. She raised an eyebrow. What on earth were they looking at?

Suddenly someone cleared their throat behind Skyy and she turned around.

"Huh?" she said. She jumped when she saw who it was behind her. Mimi and Sora were smiling slyly and Jeremy had raised eyebrows.

"Uh, hello, you don't know me but my name is Brayden," the Hoodie boy was standing right behind her with a light blush on his face. Skyy's eyes widened. Izzy looked at the boy with a surprised and confused look. His look mirrored both Tai and Matt's as well. Jeremy grinned and Sora and Mimi kept smiling slyly. Everybody was watching Skyy now. She suddenly felt awkward.

"Oh, uh, hello…?" she said in English. The Hoodie boy, now known as Brayden, smiled lightly. Skyy noticed he was quite good looking. And now that he was up close she noticed his eyes were a dark, mint green.

"Well I just wanted to say that I think you're super cute and to save me a dance next time at the teen center okay? If your friends don't mind?" he said grinning. Skyy stared blankly at him.

"Uh…okay?" she mumbled. Brayden beamed.

"Okay! Well, see you around," he said and shyly started to walk away. Skyy stared stupidly at his back. Mimi and Sora squealed lightly and rushed over to Skyy's side. Mimi had translated what Brayden said lightly to the others. Tai and Matt looked a little worried. Izzy had a shocked and a little jealous expression on his face. Jeremy just stood their beaming at Skyy.

"Wait!" Brayden's voice suddenly said and he came rushing over again. Mimi and Sora quickly shut up and Skyy looked up at Brayden.

"Wow, I'm super lame, I didn't even ask your name!" he said laughing and scratching the back of his head shyly.

"Oh, I'm Skyy, Skyy Tsutsumi," she said. Brayden's eyes sparkled.

"Cool! Pretty name, though I don't think I'll be able to say your last name," he laughed. Skyy smiled lightly.

"Anyway, I'm leaving for real this time, so see you around Skyy!" he said and rushed off towards his friends. Mimi translated quickly to Sora and Sora started squealing beside Skyy.

"Aww Skyyy! He's soo super **cute**!" Sora squealed. Mimi nodded.

"Yeah! He's seems so **honest** too!" she sighed. Skyy finally shook her head to get rid of the shock.

"Yeah, he was, but I don't **know** him guys! Jeeez," she said, a light blush dusting her cheeks. Izzy stayed silent and looked at the ground with a mixture of emotions running through his eyes. Tai watched Brayden's back as he met back up with his friends. Skyy peeked over at him too. He was getting a bunch of high-five's and noogies from his friends. Brayden was laughing lightly but still had that embarrassed blush on his face. The group of boys walked out of the lounge with Brayden in the middle still receiving congratulations.

"Well, whatever, Skyy says she doesn't know him so don't try to go setting her up with someone she doesn't want to be with," Tai said. Mimi and Sora frowned. Skyy gave Tai a look that said "thank you," Tai saw it and nodded back.

"Aww, but they'd be so **cute** together," Mimi whined.

"Well he's got his hopes too high because we're on a cruise ship and we're all leaving in three days so it's not like anything will happen anyway," Matt said, he kept giving Izzy glances to see his reactions. Sora and Mimi pouted.

"You guys are stingy," Sora said, frowning. Tai and Matt shrugged. Skyy was grateful for them, even if Matt didn't know that she liked Izzy he seemed to get a hint from Tai. Thought Skyy was positive Tai didn't tell anyone, he wouldn't do that.

"Well anyway, it looks like we're left with nothing to do…want to wander?" Skyy piped up. Jeremy perked up.

"Yeaah, my feet are tired from those moves, I need to stretch them out," Jeremy said. Izzy got up from his seat.

"Yeah, a walk sounds good," he said and started heading for the exit. Skyy watched his back worriedly. He seemed to be acting funny all of a sudden, was he okay? The others followed suit and they walked around for a little while. They mostly walked in silence, well Izzy and Skyy did anyway. She kept looking at Izzy and wanting to talk to him, but never could.

Eventually Mimi's said her feet got tired and they retired on a staircase for a while. Skyy sat a couple stairs up and Izzy slumped down on the stair in front of her. Suddenly she thought of an idea.

"Hey Iz, you seem tense," she said. Izzy lazily looked back at her.

"Oh?" he said raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah! Want me to give you a head massage?" she asked sweetly. He blinked stupidly a couple times and grinned, leaning against her legs and resting his head on her knees.

"Sure, sounds great," he said. Skyy's heart lifted and she started kneading her fingers into his hair. The teens all chatted lightly and as Skyy worked her fingers through Izzy's soft red hair. Eventually thought her fingers got tired and she just ended up playing with his hair. He didn't seem to mind though. Skyy gazed down at his hair.

"Man Iz…your hair is sooo red," she said. Izzy chuckled.

"Thanks?" he replied.

"Yeah, it's like not a normal red, it's like a deep maroon red," Mimi said looking at his hair.

"It's actually really pretty," Skyy said smiling. Izzy raised an eyebrow.

"I have pretty hair? That's not exactly manly," he joked. Skyy laughed.

"Nah, it's just a rare shade, it's cool," she said. Izzy blushed lightly and smiled proudly.

"Its natural right?" Skyy joked.

"Yes!" Izzy said. Skyy laughed.

"Skyy I want to see your natural hair color!" Sora said. Skyy raised an eyebrow.

"Why?" she asked.

"Becaaause, we've never seen your natural hair color, you always re-dye it before your roots grow in," Mimi pouted. Skyy grinned.

"I don't know why you guys care so much, it's just a normal brown color," Skyy shrugged.

"Somehow I can't see you with brown hair," Tai chuckled. Jeremy laughed.

"She didn't even have it natural the whole time she lived in Canada so I've never seen it either," Jeremy said.

"You should get the dye out of it when we get home!" Sora said excitedly. Skyy sighed.

"Whhyy though? I like it blonde," she said.

"I think you'd look really pretty with brown hair…" Izzy mumbled but everyone heard him. Tai grinned widely and Skyy blushed.

"Oh…then I might try to un-dye it," she muttered. Tai laughed.

"Ohh so easily persuaded! Izzy must have a power over her that we don't! No fair!" Tai teased. Izzy and Skyy turned bright red, but a smile crept up on Izzy's features.

"A-anyway! What are we going to do tonight?" Skyy asked to change the subject.

"Well, since its Mimi's birthday today, I say we party till dawn!" Sora cheered. Jeremy perked up.

"Oh? It's Mimi's birthday? Well happy birthday!" he grinned. Mimi blushed and thanked him. Tai smiled and hugged her lovingly.

"That sounds good, just the same thing we do every night would make me happy!" Mimi said happily. Tai grinned.

"Oh? The thing **we** do every night would make you happy?" Tai teased and he kissed her neck. Mimi blushed a deep red and swatted him away.

"Jeez! No dirty jokes!" she said nervously. Tai laughed and kissed her cheek.

"So we'll just hang out at the teen club like normal?" Skyy asked. Everyone nodded. The seven of them sat on the stairs for a little while longer before getting up to walk around again. They realized that it was close to seven o'clock and parted ways with Jeremy to head to dinner. When they were at dinner they all had crab legs which were a real treat for all of them.

As per usual when they finished dinner they were really full and they walked out

groaning because they were too full. They decided to quickly go down and change into some different clothes so they headed down to the rooms. When they got there Skyy changed into a white tank top with a black corset-type vest over top. She wore black shorts that sort of poofed out and bit and some grey leggings that stopped at her knees. She put her hair into two messy pinktails at either side of her head that framed her face and long neck.

When the girls finished getting ready Skyy quickly called Jeremy at his stateroom to meet up with him again. He was happy that she called and she told him where they would all meet. The girls then met the boys out in the hallway and headed out for the night.

Skyy had flipped through the daily log again whist she was in her stateroom and saw that there was a big quiz game in the Explorer's Lounge. She told the boys about it and they agreed to go.

On their way they passed through main Piazza and a horrible stench filled the air. The girls all gagged as soon as the smell hit their faces. Tai looked down to the bottom floor of the Piazza and saw staff was handing out cheese samples. He laughed and he and Matt went down to get some. They came back up with a couple of samples. Mimi and Sora were too grossed out to try it. Skyy was willing to try it but couldn't get past the smell before gagging first, so she passed. Tai and Matt had a piece and they actually seemed to like it. Izzy had some too and liked it as well. The girls still refused to try it anyway. The three girls skidded away from the Piazza with the boys laughing and following after. Mimi and Sora were saying there was no way either Matt or Tai were getting kisses tonight until they brushed their teeth.

As they reached the Explorer's Lounge there were already a couple groups of people sitting there. A staff person was standing at the front with a microphone and taking groups. Skyy quickly skipped up and registered her team. When he asked her what the team name was she didn't realize they needed to have a team name and was a little surprised. But she thought quickly and told him their team name was "Team Asia". He looked past her and saw that all of her friends were Asian and chuckled as he wrote down their team name.

The point of the game was that the announcer would say a question, and each of the teams had to write down the most common answer for that question. When the announcer gave Skyy her team's notepad she walked back over to them and explained the rules. Jeremy went up to the bar to get a couple drinks. He used his ID to buy some alcoholic drinks that Tai, Sora, Matt and Mimi wanted. He got a drink with light alcohol in it for Skyy even though she said she didn't want one. She ended up sharing it with Izzy though because he didn't like strong alcohol either. They all got really hyper because of the drinks and started writing down nonsense answers just for the fun of it. The questions and answers were as follows:

1. What do you win on TV shows? _If your hot, the host's phone number_

2. What's the most annoying habit? _Biting nails_

3. What attracts women to men first? _Definitely not their penis', so stop trying guys…. _

4. What's the most romantic city? _Vegas_

5. What would you find in a bachelor's fridge? _A six pack of beer and his mother's meat pie_

6. What do you give your mother in law as a _Anti-aging cream and diet pills_

present?

7. What does everyone wish they had more of _Hair and brain cells._

When they are born?

8. What do people take home from cruises? _Weight_

9. What do teens most look forward to? _The party, not the hangover._

10. Where do you go on a first date? _My house ;P_

Skyy, Mimi or Jeremy would write down the answers because they were the only

ones who could write in English. Skyy was the official runner and would go up to submit their answers to the host. The host would laugh every time he had to read out their answers. All the teams knew that the group of teens weren't really trying to win but were just trying to get some laughs out of people. It was an all adult crowd except for their team so they did their best. As they kept playing and submitting answers they kept drinking and by the end Skyy was sure she was a little tipsy. Everyone seemed a little drunk but thankfully they were all fun drunks and knew somewhat what they were doing and when to stop drinking alcohol.

When the trivia game finally ended 'Team Asia' got last place with only two correct

answers: numbers 5 and 8. As the announcer packed up and left a singer and some dancers came up and announced the beginnings of 50's night. Skyy vaguely remembered reading about it in the daily log. They all decided to stay for a little while longer and see how the 50s night thing turned out. As more people came into the lounge the singer started to sing some old 50s tunes and the dancers danced on stage. Skyy lightly hummed to the songs, recognizing the odd song. Eventually Mimi stood up and pulled on Skyy's arm asking her to come up and dance with her. She agreed and persuaded some others to come as well. Soon everyone got up and ran up to the dance floor where some other older people were dancing lightly. They all danced in a little crowd on the dance floor and all the older ladies sitting at the front of the lounge awed at Skyy and her friends. At one point a song that they all recognized came on and Izzy broke out into the old dance step where you swing your knee in and out keeping your foot in the same place and swinging your arms around your waist. Everyone laughed at him before he stopped, bursting into laughter himself.

They were dancing for a long time, or at least it seemed like a long time. Skyy even got to dance some one on one with Izzy. They didn't dance they way they normally did, like a school dances and at the teen club, because there was innocent old ladies present. But they danced around like silly, tipsy teenagers. Skyy even got the courage to ask Izzy to dance with her during a slow song. Izzy accepted happily and the little old ladies in front sighed dreamily at the two of them. Izzy and Skyy only laughed lightly at them. Skyy was most happy, she thought, tonight. It seemed to be the most fun out of all her days on the cruise. Not only because she was dancing in Izzy's arms, but just cause today was a good day, and they kept having more and more fun.

The teens stayed at the lounge for a couple more hours dancing and goofing around. Soon 50s night ended though and everyone left. It was around 11:00 and the teens decided to head back to their rooms to 'freshen up'. No one forgot Mimi's birthday and they still had to celebrate it!

Jeremy ended up following them, saying he didn't want to disturb his parents who were probably sleeping. They all headed down to their staterooms talking and laughing loudly. It wasn't until Sora finally reminded them of the other sleeping passengers that they shut up, but still kept laughing and joking lightly. The girls headed into their stateroom and Jeremy followed the boys into theirs. When they got in Mimi slumped on Skyy's bed and Skyy looked at herself in the mirror whilst playing with her hair.

"Hey guys…" Mimi mumbled. Skyy looked over and Sora made a sound that said she was listening. Sora was in the bathroom looking in the mirror.

"I don't really want to go to the teen club, I mean it's already 11:15 and most of the teens leave by that point…can we just stay here and stay up till late?" she asked. Skyy smiled.

"That actually sounds perfect, after dancing in the lounge I'm soo tired I don't want to go out again," Skyy laughed.

"Me too," Sora sighed from the other room.

"We can just stay in the rooms and open presents here!" Skyy said. Mimi perked up.

"You got me presents?" she asked. Skyy raised an eyebrow.

"Of course we did stupid! It's your birthday!" Skyy laughed. Mimi blushed lightly.

"Oh, ha, ha," Mimi laughed. Mimi flopped onto her back and suddenly shifted.

"Ow, what's under me?" she said and shifted and her arms reached under her back. Skyy looked over to her. Mimi clasped something behind her back and her eyes lit up.

"Wait! Is this!" she said and brought the object to her face. Her eyes sparkled and a big smile went all over her face. She was clutching, a now crinkled, note with Skyy's name written on it. Skyy's eyes widened.

"This is another note for you Skyy!" Mimi squealed. Sora peeked her head out the bathroom. Skyy rushed over and took the letter from Mimi.

"Read it read it!" Mimi squealed. Skyy blushed and she opened it up just as Sora quickly skipped over and leaned on Skyy's other side. Skyy translated the note into Japanese as she read.

**I wanted to dance the Rumba with you… From, X**

Mimi and Sora squealed. Skyy blushed as she read the note.

"It was definitely that Brayden boy! Wasn't he watching you the whole time during the Rumba lesson?" Mimi said. Sora's eyes widened.

"What do you mean he was watching her?" she asked. Mimi grinned.

"Skyy saw him and pointed him out to me, he was sitting at the bar the whole time and didn't tear his eyes from her! I saw him!" Mimi squealed. Sora squealed as well and bounced up and down excitedly with Mimi.

"But….do we still have enough proof it's him sending these notes?" Skyy said, trying to find a loop hole. Mimi rolled her eyes.

"Skyy, **C'mon**! He goes to the teen center so he **knew** about the foosball tournament and you singing, he was on the train tour we took, he seems shy so that could be an opposite personality, and he was watching you dancing the Rumba today!" Mimi said using her fingers to count down each note Skyy had gotten.

"And he could've been on deck the first day when we were playing truth or dare and overheard your answer, or sending the notes could have been spontaneous," Sora added. Skyy bit her lip.

"Face it Skyy! Brayden **is** X!" Mimi said with a twinkle in her eyes. Skyy sighed.

"I guess…it seems that way," Skyy mumbled.

"What's wrong? Don't you want it to be Brayden?" Sora asked. Skyy shook her head.

"It's not that, it just he's so **nice**," Skyy said. Mimi and Sora nodded furiously. Skyy continued. "But I like someone else so I'm going to have to turn him down," Skyy mumbled. Mimi sighed and Sora frowned, slumping into Skyy's bed.

"But Skyy! How long have you liked this mystery person for?" Mimi questioned. Skyy turned red.

"Uh, for three years now," Skyy mumbled. Mimi's eyes widened.

"Oh wow, that's a long time…anyway, this Brayden guy likes you **now**, if you've liked this other guy for three years and nothings happened, doesn't it seem kind of hopeless unless you confess or something?" Mimi said. Skyy's heart sank. How could Mimi say that?

"But… I mean I haven't confessed…but...what if—" Skyy said.

"What if he rejects you? Why would you have to worry about that when someone like Brayden already **likes** you! You even said he's a nice guy and he's cute! Why can't you go out with him just so see what it's like? You might end up really **liking** him," Mimi said. Sora just watched the two of them.

"Mimi," Sora said, noticing how Skyy's face seemed to be looking more crushed as Mimi talked.

"If this other guy hasn't given you the time of day, than he's not worth it. Brayden is hot, he's honest, he's really nice, and he likes you," Mimi went on. Skyy felt her eyes stinging. Sora opened her mouth to protest again but Skyy beat her to it.

"But…he's not…he's not Izzy," Skyy said, accidentally letting Izzy's name slip. Mimi stopped in her tracks and Sora's eyes practically bulged from her head. Skyy's face turned red as she realized what she just said. Mimi started at her wide-eyed.

"Oh…my….god." she said. Skyy opened her mouth to argue back but Sora's squeals filled her eardrums and made her head pound.

"You like **IZZY**? OH MY GAWWD SKYYYYY! THAT'S SO FREAKIN **CUTE**!" Sora screamed. Skyy groaned. Crap. There was no getting out of this one. Mimi's eyes sparkled.

"**Seriously**?" she said grabbing Skyy's arm. Skyy blushed deeper and nodded. Mimi and Sora erupted into more squeals and giggles.

"Oh **my**! I'm **so** sorry I ever said to forget about him! I'm for Izzy and Skyy **%100**!" Mimi laughed.

"Why haven't you confessed yet Skyy? It's **Izzy**! He's so nice; he'd definitely go out with you!" Sora said. Skyy shrank into herself as much as she could.

"No he wouldn't. He wouldn't like someone like me, I mean he'd probably go out with a girl like Yolei but older, someone smart like him," Skyy mumbled. Mimi smiled slyly.

"Somehow I doubt that," she said. Sora got up in a burst of energy.

"C'mon! Lets go to the boys' room!" she said an in a split second dashed for the door. Mimi grinned and shot up, following the hyper red-head. Skyy's eyes widened and she got up.

"W-wait! Your not telling anyone are you?" she said, panicking. Mimi turned just as Sora was about to open the door, she rolled her eyes.

"Obviously not Skyy, we're better friends than **that**, I'm just stoked you finally let it slip who you like!" Mimi laughed and skipped after Sora. Skyy groaned and followed after them. Sora reached out for the boys' door handle and slipped in a card key. Skyy looked around Mimi's shoulder.

"Um, why do you have a room key for the boys' room?" Skyy wondered aloud.

"I snuck Matt's card one time and got it copied, it was perfect for times like this," Sora grinned evilly. Skyy raised an eyebrow. Sometimes Sora was a better mastermind than herself. The door clicked as it unlocked and Sora pushed down the door handle and threw it open.

"**Boo**!" all the girls shouted and a series of male yelling echoed from the stateroom. Skyy took out her camera and quickly snapped some pictures to get the boys' surprised faces, but she got much more than just that. The girls barged in and were greeted by wide eyes and bare chests. Jeremy was lounging on Matt's bed and was fully dressed, but still with wide-eyes. Matt was fully dressed too but didn't have a shirt on. Tai and Izzy on the other hand were the ones yelping because they only had their boxers on. Tai jumped about a foot in the air and dashed for a corner to hide in. Izzy was closer to the bathroom and ran in, slamming the door shut behind him.

The girls stared at them for a second and burst out laughing. Tai growled angrily.

"Hey! That's not **funny**! Seriously don't come barging in like that! I thought it was the stewardess!" Tai said. Matt chuckled and resumed putting on the shirt he had in his hands. Jeremy was laughing too. Tai glared at him and threw his shoe at Jeremy's head.

"Why would the stewardess come this late?" Skyy asked, her laughs ceasing. Tai shrugged. Mimi laughed and went over to give Tai a quick kiss before Tai started rummaging through his drawers for some clothes.

"So what's with the pleasant surprise?" Matt asked giving Sora a quick peck on the cheek.

"Mimi decided she just wants to hang out here for the night and stay up late," Sora said. Tai raised an eyebrow.

"You don't want to go to the teen club?" he asked, turning to Mimi who was sitting on his bed.

"Nope, I thought it would be more fun to just hang out here," she said. Tai nodded.

"Oh, okay, hey Skyy," Tai said getting Skyy's attention; she was looking out the window to the dark water outside. Tai threw her some clothes. "Give these to Izzy, he's still hiding in the bathroom I think," Tai laughed. Skyy nodded.

"Okay," she said and headed for the bathroom.

"Hey Iz, here's some clothes for you," Tai yelled. Skyy waited outside the door and it opened hesitantly.

"Hey, thanks Tai, I thought I'd be stuck in here for a while—" Izzy's said but when he saw Skyy standing there he stopped talking. Skyy did a one over and smirked at his boxers.

"Nice teddy bears," she grinned. Izzy turned beat red and jumped, slamming the door shut again. Tai burst out laughing from around the corner.

"**Tai**! Dammit!" Izzy cursed from inside the bathroom. Skyy laughed. She knocked lightly on the door.

"Hey Iz, you forgot your clothes," she said. It was silent for a second before the door opened a crack and Izzy's hand slipped out. She gave him the clothes and the door shut quickly.

"Thanks..." Izzy mumbled. Skyy grinned and went over back to the others. Sora and Mimi were grinning like cats. Skyy slapped Tai over the back, who was still laughing.

"Dude, that was mean," she said, though she was laughing too. Jeremy was laughing lightly as well.

"Anyway, should we get our presents out to give to Meems?" Tai said and he pulled his shirt on, he already had some pants on. Matt nodded and pulled out his suitcase from under his bed. Mimi blushed lightly.

"Oh, everyone got presents?" she mumbled. Sora quickly ran back to the girls' room to get her and Skyy's presents from their suitcases. When she got back Izzy was out of the bathroom with a blush on his face. He was too embarrassed and refused to look Skyy in the eye. Mimi sat on Tai's bed with Tai on one side and Sora on the other. Everyone sat around her holding their presents. Mimi opened everyone's one by one, opening Tai's last. Sora had given her a new pink shirt, and Skyy had gotten her some short shorts and hair pins to match. Matt got her a set of pink hairbrushes (Skyy could tell Sora had helped him pick it out). Izzy had gotten her a CD of a Japanese band she said she really liked. Since Jeremy didn't know it was her birthday he took the daily log from that day and folded it into a paper flower for her and stuck in on the end of a pen. Finally Tai had given her $30 American. Skyy mentally slapped her forehead.

"Is this what you give your girlfriend for her **birthday**! Just some money?" she said and hit Tai with a pillow over the head.  
"Ow! Hey! I got it for her before she was even my girlfriend!" Tai said, grabbing his other pillow and swatting Skyy over the head with it. Mimi tried butting in saying she loved money for presents but Tai and Skyy started a full out pillow fight. Eventually everyone else got involved and they all grabbed pillows and started hitting anyone who was near them. They all erupted into laughter and yelling, forgetting how thin the stateroom walls were and that their neighbours were probably cursing them to hell. They kept hitting each other with pillows until there were all exhausted and collapsed either on the floor or on someone's bed. Still not really wanting to go to sleep yet they all lay around and chatted. Eventually Skyy got up and headed for the door.

"Hey Skyy, where are you goin'?" Tai asked, he was lying on his bed with Mimi curled up beside him and resting her head on his chest. Skyy turned with a light blush on her cheeks.

"Um, I'm just going out for a while, Izzy will you come with me?" Skyy said. Everyone's eyes widened and their mouths dropped. Izzy's face turned bright red. Skyy got what they were thinking at quickly retaliated.

"No! That's not what I meant! It's just for a walk!" Skyy fumed her face beat red. Izzy stumbled as he got up.

"Uh-uh sure I'll come," he said. Sora, Tai and Mimi all grinned slyly at Skyy but she glared at all of them. She wasn't going to do what they thought she was going to do. Jeez. As Skyy and Izzy closed the door behind them Izzy opened his mouth to ask Skyy where they were going but she answered him before he spoke.

"I feel really bad but we didn't have any time to hang out at the Piazza today, we were so busy with Mimi's birthday and all, I hope you didn't think I forgot," Skyy said. She had felt really bad, especially when they both planned to hang out there today. Understanding washed over Izzy's face and he laughed lightly.

"Oh! To be honest I did think you forgot, but I didn't want to say anything, thinking you'd get the impression that I was being a nuisance," Izzy said nervously scratching the back of his head. He had a light blush on his cheeks. Skyy smiled.

"No way! I wouldn't think you were a nuisance!" Skyy laughed. Izzy grinned.

"Do you think we could go there now then?" he asked shyly. Skyy raised an eyebrow.

"Right now? But the shops will be closed…and nobody will be there," she said. Izzy shrugged.

"So? We can still hang out, plus the others think we're going for a walk right? May as well go for a walk," he said giving her a crooked grin. She blushed and smiled at him, nodding happily.

"Sure! Let's go," she said and they both headed off down the hall. They chatted as they walked down to the Piazza.

It was funny seeing the Piazza with absolutely no one there. All the lights were still on but the Elevators weren't moving and the odd janitor staff would go by sweeping or emptying garbage cans. The windows were all dark too, not letting in the sunlight they did during the day. Izzy led Skyy to a group of chairs and they both collapsed into one each.

"Ahh! This is so relaxing!" Skyy said snuggling into the chair," Izzy smiled at her.

"Yeah, somehow I like it better with no one here," he chuckled. Skyy nodded.

"Oh hey! We should take a picture to commemorate our "date"!" she said writing quotations in the air with her fingers. Izzy nodded and smiled as Skyy took her camera from her pocket. She turned on her camera and leaned next to Izzy. They both smiled and held up peace signs as Skyy clicked the camera.

"Sweet!" Skyy cheered as she looked at the picture on the camera screen. She put her camera away and sighed as she sank back into the seat.

"Maan, I can't believe the cruise is almost over!" Skyy said pouting. Izzy sighed too.

"Yeah…it went by too fast," he said somewhat sadly. Skyy nodded in her seat.

"But so many things have happened! Like I met Jeremy again, and we met all of our other friends, and Tai and Mimi became a couple!" Skyy said using her fingers to count off everything.

"Yeah," Izzy said.

"I think today has been my favourite day though so far," Skyy said. Izzy looked up at her.

"Oh? And why is that?" he asked. Skyy shrugged.

"I don't know, we just seemed to have a lot of fun today," Skyy said happily. The two chatted for a while and their voices echoed throughout the Piazza. It was mostly Skyy talking because she didn't really want them to sit in silence so she kept racking her brain for things to talk about. What she didn't know was that Izzy didn't mind just listening to her talk. It was about half an hour before Izzy started his own conversation instead of Skyy. Izzy looked at her for a long moment. Skyy didn't notice because she was sort of looking all over the room whilst she talked.

"Hey Skyy," Izzy said suddenly. Skyy turned her attention to him.

"Hm?" Skyy replied.

"Well, there is something…uh that I wanted to say," Izzy mumbled, his face becoming red. Skyy's eyes widened a little bit. Her heart started to beat faster for a moment.

"Oh, yeah?" she mumbled.

"Yeah...um…I just wanted to say…Uh…I really, really—" he started. His face was beat red and he was looking at the ground. Skyy stared at him as he talked. What was he going to say? Izzy was silent for a second.

"Yes?" Skyy said after he didn't say anything.

"...I'm really glad we came here to hang out," Izzy said and looked up at her smiling. Skyy's heart sank a little.

"Oh! Yeah me too!" she said smiling. Suddenly a rustle came from far off in the corner of the Piazza.

"**Dammit** Izzy!" Tai's voice yelled. Both teens jumped and swung to look in the direction of Tai's voice.

"Taii! Shut **up** you blew our **cover**!" Mimi's voice yelled. Skyy bolted from her seat. Tai, Mimi, Sora, Matt, and Jeremy were all crouching around a corner. Skyy frowned and charged over to them.

"Hey! What do you think this is?" she said angrily, though her face was beat red. Izzy got up from his seat too and walked over. Tai held up his hands in surrender and grinned.

"Sorry Skyy, but what you said was too intriguing, and it got boring after you left, so we came to eavesdrop," Tai said shrugging and crossing his arms behind his head. Skyy glared at him.

"How long were you there for?" she asked. Tai grinned.

"About half an hour maybe?" Mimi said innocently. Skyy rolled her eyes.

"Jeez don't you have anything better to do?" she snapped.

"Actually no, so do you guys wanna come back with us then?" Sora said. Skyy sighed and Izzy smiled weakly.

"Yeah, I guess it's getting late, we should head back," Izzy said putting a hand on Skyy's shoulder. Skyy pouted angrily. Stupid Tai.

So, much to Skyy's disappointment, they all left and headed back to their staterooms. Jeremy said goodbye and Skyy, Sora and Mimi all gave him little hugs as he left for his room. When they got back the girls ended up going back into the boys' room and they all chatted for a little while longer.

Before they knew it however, they all got tired after they realized it was past 2:00 and the girls all fell asleep in the boys' room. Mimi feel asleep with Tai on his bed, Sora with Matt on his bed, and Skyy stole a bunch of extra blankets and pillows and curled up on the floor. Izzy had been sitting on the floor too and ended up taking one of Skyy's pillows and lay down with his head by hers.

They all slept soundly with the glow from the moon in the window dancing across all their faces. They were docked at Ketchikan tomorrow, their last official stop in Alaska before they headed for Victoria, British Columbia. Sweet dreams of her and Izzy in the Piazza played in Skyy's mind as she slept, wishing that maybe Izzy had said something else to her before her friends had interrupted them. But then again, in Skyy's mind, why would Izzy ever say something like **that** to her? It wasn't possible.

End – Day Seven


	8. Day 8: Thursday

Digimon Adventure 02 – Summer in Alaska

Day Eight

Skyy was thoroughly confused when she first woke up. Expecting to be greeted by the darkness of her cabin again, instead her eyes stung as sunlight filled her vision. Skyy squinted and blinked a few times to adjust to the light. She felt someone breathing close to her and she shifted her head. She noticed a crop of maroon red hair against pale skin.

Suddenly everything clicked in her brain.

Oh.

She was in the boys' cabin.

And the boys had a window.

…

Huh.

Skyy smiled into her pillow at Izzy's sleeping face. She looked around and saw Tai and Mimi curled up together on Tai's bed, and Matt and Sora cuddled up on Matt's bed. Skyy smiled again. She rested her head on the pillow and closed her eyes lightly. They were docked at Ketchikan today, they arrived really early in the morning but the ship was supposed to leave really early, around 12:00.

Skyy opened her eyes and glanced at her purple wristwatch.

11:57.

…

…

"**Shit**!" Skyy cursed loudly and she bolted from her pillow. Tai shifted and groaned a little bit. Causing Mimi to wake up. Sora and Matt shifted too, well Sora shifted **because** Matt shifted, she was still obviously asleep.

"What's got you so noisy in the morning?" Matt muttered. Tai groaned in agreement.

"We missed today's port…the ship leaves in three minutes," Skyy said looking outside for the first time and seeing some buildings and trees. Matt raised an eyebrow and looked out the window.

"Oh, oops, we must've slept in…" he said. Skyy nodded sleepily.

"Oh well, it probably looked like all the other ports, it doesn't matter," Tai mumbled. Skyy glanced at him.

"How nice of you to say, reminding you it was Mimi who took us on this cruise, it's wasteful to skip ports," Skyy said glaring at Tai's back slightly. He shivered and shifted his shoulders, obviously feeling her glare. Matt shifted and sat up on his bed; Sora mumbled lightly and turned over, squishing her head deeper into Matt's pillow.

"Hmm, who wants to come upstairs with me to see the ship leave?" Matt said.

"I will," Skyy said, pulling the covers she had stolen from over her legs.

"I'll come too," Izzy's voice said and Skyy jumped.

"Jeez! I didn't even know you were awake! You scared me," Skyy said. Izzy smiled, he was resting his chin on his pillow beside Skyy's.

"It's cause I'm a sneaky ninja like that," he joked. Skyy grinned. As Skyy got up she was about to ask Tai and Mimi if they wanted to come but they had both drifted back to sleep and Skyy figured they wouldn't want to be disturbed.

As Matt, Skyy and Izzy made their way up to the pool deck they saw all the last- minute people quickly coming back on board the ship. As the three made it up to the pool deck they leaned over the railing just as the horn on the ship sounded and the engines started roaring to life. Skyy clicked pictures of the town with her camera that she had quickly grabbed as they were leaving the cabin. Because they were still pretty sleepy, all three friends were quiet and didn't say much as they watched the Alaskan town get smaller and smaller. But Skyy was happy because Izzy had managed to casually slip his arm around her waist as they all leaned on the railing.

Soon they got bored though and headed back down to the boys' cabin to retrieve the sleeping beauties. When they returned Tai had actually gotten up and was in the shower, but Mimi and Sora were still sleeping. Skyy grinned as she dragged them both out of the beds.

"Hey, how about since we have the whole day free now, why don't we go for a swim? We haven't gone swimming on the ship yet," Matt suggested. Skyy turned around just as she was about to go out the door with her two half asleep friends. Her face lit up.

"Oh yeah! I bought a new bathing suit so I guess I might as well show it off," Skyy laughed. Izzy blushed from over where he was sitting at the vanity table, but no one saw it. Matt grinned.

"Well I'm looking forward to it then," he joked, "we'll meet you at the pool." Skyy nodded and left the room.

Instead of going to bed like Skyy thought they would, Sora and Mimi actually started to get ready for swimming. When Skyy commented on it Mimi laughed.

"Well don't think you're the only one who has a new bikini to show off!" Mimi said pulling out a bright pink lacy bikini. Skyy's eyes widened.

"Oh that's really pretty," Skyy mumbled. Sora squealed and ran out from the bathroom where she was putting on sunscreen and fixing her hair.

"Oh! I have a new one too! See, see," she said and she took it out from her drawers. It was a dark blue bikini that brought out Sora's hair. It had curly designs on it that was shade darker than the dark blue, and you couldn't really see them unless you were looking up close. But it was still really pretty too. Skyy frowned.

"Ohh, yours are prettier than mine," she pouted. Sora laughed.

"Why? Let's see yours," she said. Skyy took hers out. It was just a plain purple bikini. Sora and Mimi looked at it, and then glanced at each other.

"Well, it's very you I think! Super cute!" Mimi said. Sora nodded in agreement. Skyy frowned. They were lying. She shrugged and turned to put the bathing suit on. Sora and Mimi quickly resumed what they were doing. The girls got ready as quickly as they could before grabbing their towels and sunglasses and heading up to the indoor pool.

The boys were already in the pool when the girls got there. They were in the middle of what looked like a splashing contest and Skyy was a little surprised to find Izzy in the pool as well, instead of on the sidelines on his laptop. Though she did notice the yellow and white laptop tucked away on a pool chair by some other towels and bags. The pool was pleasantly empty with one or two people lounging on the pool chairs. It seemed people wanted to sleep on the outside pool chairs by the outdoor pool instead. This worked in the friends' favor though because then they got the entire pool to themselves. When the girls walked in and dropped their towels off by the boys' they walked over by the edge of the pool. Matt grinned and swam away from the splashing contest.

"Hey so you girls finally showed up!" Matt grinned. Sora laughed and lightly slid into the pool next to him. Izzy looked up from splashing Tai and froze for a second. His eyes were on Skyy and a light blush grew darker over his cheeks. Skyy glanced at him and noticed his stare and she quickly looked away- embarrassed. She started to like her new bathing suit a little more though. Tai quickly dunked Izzy's head underwater to snap him out of it and Izzy immediately started struggling as Tai laughed. Skyy chuckled to herself and she slipped in with Mimi. The water was cold, but only for a few seconds before Skyy's body got used to it and it became warm.

The girls joined the splashing contest and their laughter filled the whole room. The teens played a couple of different games in the water, like Marco Polo. When Tai was it, he caught Skyy and when he recognized her he wrapped his arms around her and brought her out of the pool as she laughed and tried to wriggle away. He went over to the side of the pool and threw her in with all his might, which landed her pretty far, near the middle of the pool. This became a pattern for any guy who became it and caught a girl, or even a guy in some cases. Like one time Tai caught Izzy and managed to get the flailing teen out of the pool just the chuck him back in. Izzy's face had been bright red with embarrassment as everyone laughed at his misfortune. Izzy managed to get back at him though when he purposefully caught Tai and him and Matt both ganged up to get Tai out and chuck him as far as they could back into the pool. He seemed happy when Skyy laughed and gave him a high five. They did other things too like a cannon ball contest, holding breath contest, and games like Colors and Tag.

Soon Sora and Mimi backed out and retired to lounging by the side of the pool with their feet in the water. Skyy kept it up until Tai almost choked her by splashing too much water in her face. He kept apologizing until she got out of the pool. Skyy could tell Tai felt like a dick so she made sure he was reassured that she didn't care after.

They all ended up sitting on the edge of the pool with their feet in sipping cokes and other non-alcoholic drinks. Skyy couldn't help but stare as Izzy got out of the pool. She never seemed to notice before how nice Izzy's body was. Well sure he wasn't jacked and he didn't have a six-pack, but he had a slight six-pack. Skyy didn't like too much muscle on guys. Izzy was lanky, but not skin and bones, he had some muscles that made him not so lanky…it was hard to explain. But Skyy liked what she saw anyway. He wasn't perfect, like nice and tan, with a perfect body shape like perhaps Tai or Matt, but it was his imperfection that Skyy was most attracted too.

They sat by the pool chatting and lightly splashing each other with their feet for about forty minuets before they got bored and headed down to their rooms to change into real clothes.

They decided to go meet at the teen center because Mimi had seen that they were holding a DDR competition really soon. By this time it was around 4:00 and they had about 3 hours until dinner, plus it was formal night again tonight and Mimi and Sora were bound to drag Skyy away around 6:00 to 6:30 to get her all primped up for dinner. Skyy knew it was pointless because they'd only end up changing right after they ate. Thinking about it Skyy finally remembered the photos they had taken during the last formal night. On their way to the teen center the teens stopped off at the photo center and each picked up one copy each of all the four photos they had taken. The favorite photo out of the four seemed to be the one where they had all made goofy faces at the camera.

They laughed about the pictures on their way to the teen center until they all put their photos away in Izzy's laptop bag because he was the only one with a bag big enough to fit the photos. As they all arrived they were pleased to find a reasonable crowd of teens playing DDR already. Usually the teen center was very scarce during the day and the teenagers only came to party at night after dinner. There was a group of about 15 other people there, plus the teen director lady and DJ. Skyy beamed when she saw Jeremy there standing with Sara, Naomi, and Brandon. They were chatting and watching other people dance. When Jeremy looked up and saw Skyy with her friends he bounced over happily and gave her a hug.

"Yay! Somehow I knew you'd come for DDR!" he said in Japanese happily. Skyy laughed, hugging him back.

"Of course you did," she said sarcastically. Jeremy looked back over to the other three sitting down.

"Look! I brought some of the others with me! Hailey was busy and couldn't come though," he said. Skyy shrugged,

"It's all good!" she said. Jeremy said hello to the others and they all made their way to the chairs. They said hellos to their American friends and fell into casual conversations.

They didn't spend a large amount of time at the teen center, because dinner was fast approaching. But Mimi, Tai, Jeremy, Skyy, Sora, Matt and even Izzy managed to get some DDR action. Izzy was too embarrassed and ended up only dancing once with Skyy after she kept urging him to just try it. She didn't ask him again though after she saw how horribly he danced, laughing so hard the whole time as he fumbled with his feet to hit the right steps. Tai had taken Skyy's camera and snapped pictures of them the whole time, grinning widely. Mimi was dancing it very well and kept getting challenges from the other teens there. She happily creamed them all before becoming the reigning DDR champ. They ordered some more drinks from the bar and sipped happily watching Mimi and others dance. Skyy danced a couple times but wasn't very good and got tired really quickly. The DDR was originally supposed to end around 5:00 but the teens were so into it the director kept it going until they got tired of it. The teen center never really followed the schedule they had very strictly, mostly just doing what the teens wanted or felt like doing.

It wasn't long before Mimi was looking at her watch and her and Sora parted with Skyy to get ready for formal night, Skyy all the while groaning as she followed them like a prisoner. The boys just laughed and waved good bye as the girls left the teen center. The girls decided to meet the boys at the dining hall later on so the boys got to stay behind. Skyy only wished she could avoid her two female friends and stay with her guy friends. But knowing Sora and Mimi there was no escaping…

Tai sat with Izzy and Matt at the dining table as they waited for the girls to show up. Tai kept scratching the back of his neck every five seconds because of his tux he had to wear. Damn thing was seriously starting to annoy him. He wore the same outfit he'd worn the last formal night but added his tux jacket. He was starting to regret it though because the cursed tag in the tux would not stop making his neck itch.

It was coming up to 7:05 and Tai noticed Sora's red hair bobbing through the crowds of passengers. A wide grin spread across his face as the three girls came up to the table. His breath hitched in his throat as Mimi came over to sit beside him. She was wearing a flow-y, summery pink dress that floated around her legs as she walked. Pink flowers of the same hue decorated the top of the dress near her breasts and it was held up by thin pink straps. Her hair was down and curly with some pink flower clips in it. She smiled at Tai as she sat down and gave him a kiss on the cheek. He grinned widely and quickly turned to capture her lips in a quick kiss. She laughed lightly at him.

Warmth pooled in Tai's stomach and heart as he looked at her. She blushed lightly and Tai turned to his other friends, with a little mischievous grin still on his face. He noticed Skyy and Sora's new dresses too. Sora wore a black, simple dress this time, and Skyy was wearing a beautiful light blue tutu dress with her hair pulled into a pony-tail at the side of her head with shimmery clips holding her bangs. He smiled at her and she warmly returned his smile as she sat beside Izzy who quickly turned from staring at her and blushed whilst burying his face into his menu. Tai laughed lightly at the two.

Dinner was the same as ever, except it was crab night so everybody ordered crab except for Skyy, who didn't like shell fish. She ordered veal ravioli instead. Though Tai remembered choking on his crab from laughing so hard when Skyy asked what veal was half way through the meal. Izzy had politely told her it was "vitellus, also known as a baby calf raised up to 3 to 2 months old for meat". All the color immediately had drained from her face. She almost gagged and quickly put her knife and fork down, refusing to eat the rest of her dinner. Tai felt a little bad for her considering her sensitivity to animals, but just seeing her face in that moment was hilarious, it was only natural to laugh. Izzy had offered her half of his baked potato so she could still eat something though.

Later for dessert there was a special baked Alaska option. Everyone decided to get some to see what it was. Right after dinner all the waiters and assistant waiters gathered together with a baked Alaska cake each and paraded around the room singing songs. The cakes where shaped like mountains and the top if the cakes each and a flame on them. Everyone clapped in tune with the songs at their tables and Skyy clicked many pictures of their waiter dancing around with the cake and singing happily. Once the parade was over their waiter, Gabrielle, set down the flaming cake onto the table and started cutting slices for them all.

The cake turned out to be a mix of cake, chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry ice cream. It was really good and Tai was wishing he could get seconds. When they all finished their cake they said goodnight to their waiters and left the dinning hall. Once again the Piazza deck was littered with photo booths but the teens already had pictures and didn't want to take more. They avoided the photographers asking to take photos of them and quickly made their way up to their cabins.

Their rooms were on the way to the teen center so they went to get changed quickly. Skyy did snap a couple quick pictures of them all on the outside deck with their outfits on before they all practically raced to get them off. Tai changed into some comfy baggy jeans with a white t-shirt with a light blue and green, plaid, button shirt that he left open over top. He added a white belt and put on his big blue sneakers that he loved. He sprayed on a teensy bit more cologne because some of it had worn off during dinner. He had green apple scented cologne and he was happy when Mimi told him that she loved apples, it made him appreciate his cologne that much more.

The boys – as usual- got ready first and waited for the girls' knock on their door to signal it was time to go. When they did come they all headed up to the teen center happily. Skyy had told them she contacted Jeremy and said that he was meeting them up at the club. Tai always loved to watch Izzy's face when she talked about that Jeremy guy. He always got so obviously jealous and his bottom lip would jut out in a slight angry pout. But of course, Tai's naive best friend never noticed Izzy's displays of jealousy.

When they all got up to club Jeremy held his word and was already up in the club sitting with their other American friends. They all went up and said their hellos again, Jeremy giving all the girls little hugs and the guys high fives. They all plopped down into chairs just as the director lady came out with a microphone and the DJ dummed down the music. The teenagers that had been on the dance floor walked off and back to their groups of friends.

"Okay guys, so we're going to be holding a fun little show of sorts, called the Bachelor game!" she announced. Mimi quickly whispered the translation and Tai raised and eyebrow. Bachelor game? What is that?

"I'm going to pick three young ladies to leave the room, then I'll pick a young gentleman to sit behind the curtain over here," she pointed to a curtain to the side of the dance floor, "and when the ladies come back the gentlemen will have to ask five questions that the girls all must answer. Then, in the end the bachelor will pick the girl he most likes, and then come out from behind the curtain to see who she is! And vise versa!" the crowd erupted into whispers and giggles form girls. Everybody seemed kind of wary about the game. Mimi whispered the translation again and Tai chuckled to himself.

Now this would be funny to watch. As the director got ready to pick three girls some girls put their hands up hesitantly, the others were forced up by their friends. When the director picked two girls she started scanning the crowd for another. Tai got a wicked idea and quickly stood up. His friends all gave him surprised looks. He waltzed over to Skyy and scooped her up into his arms. She yelped and immediately started trying to wriggle away.

"Tai! Frig what are you doing? Put me down moron!" she yelled, but was laughing in between. Tai ignored her and he walked over to the dance floor where the two other girls waited. Their friends watched them whilst laughing. Tai plopped Skyy down in front of the director lady and smiled.

"Here you go!" he said in English, the director lady laughed and nodded.

"Okay! We have our third contestant then!" she said as Tai turned and triumphantly sauntered off back to his seat. Some of his friends gave him high fives and some of the girls hit him lightly. As Tai sat down he grinned at Skyy who was glaring at him with a bright red face. Tai wanted to see what was going to become of Skyy being up there. Hopefully this would be very entertaining.

When the director lady made the girls leave and wait outside the club she came back and started searching the crowd for a boy. One boy quickly put up his hand and the lady grinned as she picked him. Tai raised an eyebrow at who put their hand up.

Brayden grinned widely as he was picked and quickly got out of his seat and walked up to the dance floor. Some of the girls wooted in the crowd. The director lady sat him behind the curtain and called the waiting girls back in. When they came back in Skyy looked incredibly bored, but Tai chuckled when he noticed her scanning the crowd to see which guy was missing.

"Okay! So I'm going to give you girls headsets that will disguise your voices so our bachelor doesn't know which one is which! Now put on your headsets and take a seat here," the lady pointed to three seats on the dance floor. Skyy fumbled with her head set but got in on quickly and sat in the second seat, the one in the middle. Tai quickly grabbed Skyy's camera from her seat – knowing she'd want pictures, and started clicking away. Skyy's face was nervous and incredibly red.

"Okay bachelor! His voice has been disguised too, so please ask your first question now!" the director lady announced. A gruff voice coughed through the speakers, it sounded really low. Skyy giggled lightly at the voice as it started to laugh.

"Wow, I sound weird, anyway, uhh first question. If we were to go on a date, where'd you want me to take you?" the gruff voice asked. Skyy cocked her head as the first girl answered.

"Umm, I'd want you to take me to a seaside restaurant and later have a moonlight walk on the beach!" the first girl squealed. Tai almost burst out laughing at the voice. It was super high pitched and sounded like a chipmunk! It was Skyy's turn now.

"Just hanging out at your place, or mine is fine, video games, movies, doing whatever sounds fun to me," she said shrugging, almost laughing at her chipmunk'd voice. The third girl answered with something similar to the first girl.

"Hmm, okay, good answers, now next question. What is your favorite movie?" the gruff voice asked. The three girls answered in order again.

"The Holiday,"

"Lord of the Rings,"

"Star Trek,"

"Okay, next question is, if I was to look at your play list, what are the first three songs I'd find?"

"Umm, probably Bad Romance by Lady Gaga, and SOS by the Jonas Brothers, and Party in the USA by Miley Cyrus!"

"…oh wait lemme check, uhhhhhhh, Misery Business by Paramore, Dance with me by the Sounds, and Fireflies by Owl City,"

"Fireflies by Owl City, Tik Tok by Ke$ha, and for your Entertainment by Adam Lambert,"

"Cool, next is, what are your favorite colors?"

"Pink,"

"Blue,"

"Black,"

"Haha, soo I get one more question? Okay, uhhmm, oh! How about what kinds of things do you like in a guy?" the voice asked. Tai raised an eyebrow. Skyy had turned beat red. Tai grinned as she snapped pictures of her flustered face. How was she gonna answer with Izzy in the crowd? Tai glanced over to Izzy and noticed him blush a little bit and his attention became more alert. The first girl answered with what any materialistic girl would usually answer with. Skyy hesitated when it was her turn though, becoming visibly redder in the face. Mimi sat closer to Tai, waiting to translate Skyy's English for him. Izzy leaned a bit closer to listen as well.

"Well, I guess, I like a guy whose funny, easy to talk too…uhh, has good fashion sense? Haha I don't know! It's kind of an awkward question to answer in front of so many people," Skyy coughed lightly. The crowd laughed.

"Is there anything else besides that?" the gruff voice asked. Skyy fidgeted with her fingers.

"Um, I don't know… I do like guys who can speak different languages? And are… smart," she coughed during the last bit so it was hard to hear.

"Sorry what was that at the end?" the gruff voice asked, though it sounded like the owner of the voice was smiling. Skyy blushed deeper if it was possible, she hung her head a little low so you couldn't see her face properly.

"I like…guys… who are smart," she said. A wide grin broke across Tai's face and he glanced over to Izzy, who had a large blush on his face and a slight smile on his mouth.

"Great! oh yeah girl number three, your answer?" the gruff voice moved on. Skyy kept her head low to hide her red hot face. Tai chuckled and took pictures of her face up close. He noticed Mimi and Sora squealing quietly beside him but ignored it. The last girl answered the question and then the director lady came back onto the dance floor and stood by the curtain.

"Great! Now our bachelor has asked all of his questions, could you please pick the lucky lady young man?"

The voice laughed. "Sure, well they all seemed pretty cool, but I think I'm definitely going to have to go with girl number two," the voice said. The other girls pouted somewhat and Skyy's eyes widened. She had a face that said "are you serious?"

Tai laughed and got up on his feet, cheering loudly. Izzy and a slight frown on his face but their other friends stood up cheering as well.

The director lady moved to open the curtain.

"Okay will the rejected girls please leave the dance floor? Now for you to meet your bachelor!" the lady said in a giddy voice. She opened the curtain as the other girls sat back down in their seats and Skyy froze. Brayden stood there with a crooked smile. When he saw her standing there he sighed in relief. He walked up to her and she stared at him.

"Hey stranger!" he joked. "I'm glad I picked the right girl!" he said shyly. Skyy looked at him in shock. He smiled and his friends shouted something from the crowd that made Skyy turn bright red. Brayden looked over at his friends then back at Skyy. He smiled widely and quickly stooped down and kissed her on the cheek. Skyy jumped and Tai's jaw almost dropped. He saw Izzy quickly get up from his seat but Tai grabbed his shoulder and pushed him back down.

"Calm down dude, it was just a kiss on the cheek," he muttered. Izzy looked at him as if he was stupid.

"But! He-!" he started to argue.

"She doesn't like him like that so don't get your boxers in a twist, it's not like she'd let him kiss her for real," Tai said quietly. Izzy frowned but sat back down without resisting.

Skyy was shocked and dazed and Jeremy got up and smacked her over the back causing her to stumble forward. Brayden took her hands to stable her and leaned down by her ear.

"So how about that dance you promised? Are you still up for it?" he asked with a glimmer of hope in his eyes. She looked up at him and groaned in her head. She did promise him before didn't she?

"Oh, yeah sure," she mumbled. The director lady moved the chairs off the stage and the DJ resumed playing the music as the teens came back up to dance. Some of her friends came up whilst others stayed back to watch. Brayden took her hand and smiled widely.

Skyy looked Brayden over as he led her to the middle of the dance floor. He wore baggy jeans with a white tank top with blue and black tank tops on over top with the straps lightly slipping down his shoulders. His brown hair was messy and brushed over his green eyes. Skyy had to admit the guy was hot; any other girl would love to be in Skyy's situation right now. When they reached the middle of the floor Brayden turned and took her hips and she loosely put her arms around his neck as they started swaying to the beat of the music. He held her hesitantly, not forcing her hips to move with his hands but just following them according to how she swayed them.

She was honestly surprised it had been Brayden behind the curtain. She thought maybe it could've been Jeremy, but other than that she thought it was just some random dude who picked her by chance. It wasn't any of her other friends because neither Tai, Matt nor Izzy could speak English, and Brandon didn't seem like the type to be a bachelor if Naomi wasn't one of the candidates. Plus she couldn't see the crowd very well because of the bright lights. The crowd looked like a black void.

She was mostly wondering what Izzy had thought of her last question though, being a boy he probably didn't connect the smart thing to himself. But she was wondering if maybe he did get a small idea that maybe she did like him, considering he was the smartest person she knew, and he knew that. As a more gritty song came on Skyy turned around and started lightly grinding with Brayden, who had his hands still on her hips with Skyy's hands over top. He pressed his chest more against her back so she felt the heat from his body radiating off onto her back. The side of his face lightly brushed the side of her head. Skyy wasn't really paying attention to the dancing though – her mind more focused on other things. Like where were her other friends?

After about four more songs Tai came up to the two of them and told Skyy that Mimi was a little tired so they all decided to leave. Skyy nodded and turned to say goodbye to Brayden. He smiled widely and did something she really didn't expect. He leaned down and kissed her right on the mouth.

Tai froze and stared at the two. Skyy froze and her muscles locked up. The kiss was light and hesitant. It was tender though and Brayden's fingers lightly held the back of her neck. The kiss was short and lasted about 5 seconds…and it was her **first** one! Brayden pulled away with a blush on his cheeks and a shy smile.

"S-see you tomorrow Skyy," he said and gave her a light hug. Skyy had to clench her teeth to stop from her mouth dropping open.

"U-uh yeah, see you tomorrow Brayden," she said and turned to leave with Tai. Skyy stared at the floor as she walked through the crowd of teens. Tai watched her from the corner of his eyes.

He stopped her just outside the crowd.

"Yo…uhh, what was that?" he asked. Skyy threw her hands in the air.

"God only knows! I mean did you see a sign saying 'kiss me you fool' on my forehead? I don't think so!" She fumed. Tai cracked a grin.

"That was your first kiss wasn't it?" he sighed. Skyy pouted and dropped her head.

"Yeah…dammit I was saving that! Now his name will forever be ingrained into my mind!" Skyy said. Tai raised an eyebrow.

"Why?"

"Because! Every girl will always remember who their first kiss was, even if they try to forget, it is permanently burned into their brains the second it happens! Now the name Brayden will never leave my mind!" Skyy explained. Suddenly Tai looked past her shoulder and stiffened. His eyes widened and he quickly looked back to Skyy with a worried look. Skyy cocked her head.

"What? Is there something behind me?" she asked and turned around, only to freeze on the spot. In one swift second she felt her heart drop into her stomach and her blood run cold.

Izzy looked at her wide eyed with his mouth a little bit open looking as if he was about to speak. Skyy's breath hitched in her throat.

"I-Izzy... d-did...you hear that just now?" she managed to choke out. Izzy closed his mouth and his eyes became a little dark.

"…You mean the part about that guy taking your first kiss? Then yeah, I did," he said with a little edge to his voice. Skyy heard Tai slap his forehead and sigh in annoyance, but he was at the back of her mind right now. Skyy turned so she was fully facing Izzy and tried to reach out to him.

"H-hey! I mean, it wasn't like I wanted him too, I don't like him," Skyy tried to defend herself, though she really didn't need to. But she didn't want Izzy of all people getting the wrong idea. Izzy looked at the ground refusing to look at her in the face.

"If you don't like him then why'd you let him kiss you?" Izzy said quickly. Skyy touched his arm.

"It was by surprise! He did it when I was leaving!" Skyy said. Izzy snatched his arm away.

"Whatever, I don't really care anyways," he said and turned away from her shoving his hands in his pockets. Skyy fumbled to try and put the pieces together as the situation started to spill from her fingers.

"But Izzy! Please, I don't like him!" she said as he walked away.

"Like I said, I don't care what you do, go have fun with your new boyfriend," he snapped and walked over to the exit where their other friends were waiting.

Skyy stared at his back and felt tears threaten to spill over her eyes. Though it was instantly replaced by anger.

"That idiot! I friggen said I didn't like him! Why'd he have to be a complete dick about it? That kiss wasn't my fault!" Skyy fumed crossing her arms. Tai sighed again and turned her around. He saw the tears in her eyes and hugged her lightly.

"Don't worry bud, he was seriously out of line, I'll talk to him," Tai said. Skyy bit her lip.

"…yeah...okay," she said. Tai took her hand and squeezed it reassuringly. He led her out of the club and over to their friends. They had worried faces when they saw them come over. Mimi walked up to them.

"What happened? Izzy just stomped right by us not saying a word…" Mimi said glancing at Skyy's pouting face. Tai rolled his eyes.

"Nah, he's just being a child, I'll talk to the little boy later," Tai teased. Mimi still frowned. She walked over and took Skyy's other hand though. Matt quickly started up a different conversation when Tai gave him the eye saying they'd talk about it later.

Skyy watched the floor as they made their way to the staterooms. She didn't understand why Izzy had reacted that way in the first place. It was an accidental kiss, why was he so angry about that? Unless he liked her…nooo that wasn't it. Maybe he was already in a bad mood or something? Oh! It had to be because he was afraid of Skyy hooking up with someone and him being the third wheel because their other friends were all couples. He was probably afraid of being left out if Sora and Matt were all lovey dovey, along with Tai and Mimi. Then if Skyy hooked up with Brayden he'd be alone. That had to be it!

Skyy groaned in her head. What a silly thing to worry about! She thought she'd made it clear she didn't like Brayden. Izzy could be kind of dumb sometimes.

As the teens all headed down to the cabin the boys invited the girls into their cabin to watch some TV so they all went inside the boys' cabin instead of going in their own. Skyy was the last one in and was a little afraid of seeing if Izzy was there. He was probably still mad and she didn't want to create a tense situation.

When she walked in her heart sank a little when she noticed Izzy laying on top his bunk bed with his big headphones over his ears. He was completely absorbed in his laptop and didn't even look up when everybody came in. Tai eyed him and glared at his back slightly. Tai went over and whispered something to Izzy which Skyy saw that he did hear, but was refusing to look at Tai. Tai's eyes narrowed and he swatted Izzy over the head hard. Izzy's head almost connected with his keyboard from the force and he whipped around holding the spot on his head where Tai hit him.

"Hey, what did you do that for?" he snapped. Tai glared straight at him and walked away. Izzy glared back and when he noticed Skyy she looked at him hesitantly. A small blush appeared on Izzy's cheeks but he frowned and turned back to his laptop, readjusting his headphones over his ears. Skyy's face fell and she looked at the ground. Somehow she felt ashamed. She slumped over and sat on the floor by Tai's bed. Tai and gotten comfortable with Mimi on his bed and was flipping through the channels on the TV. Matt and Sora where sitting on Matt's bed and they were flipping through the daily log for the next day. Tai finally found a couple American shows they recognized. They watched America's Funniest Home Videos for a while, which lightened the tense air a little with the laughing. After they flipped for a little while more until they found a documentary about this lost queen mummy that these people were trying to find.

They watched it for a good half hour until Mimi and Sora got grossed out and decided to leave for bed. Skyy was fascinated though and kept watching with the three boys. Only when the girls had left did Tai sit up from his lying position on his bed.

"Hey, I'm hungry, who wants to come with me to get cookies from the buffet?" he asked. Skyy immediately stood up from the floor.

"I will, I'm hungry too," she lied. In truth she just didn't want to be in the room with Izzy for a while. He still was completely ignoring her, and every one else for that matter. The air for her became tense and she wanted to get out of the cabin for a while. But she still wanted to watch the mummy program which is why she stayed in the first place.

It was just the two of them so Tai grabbed his room key and headed out with Skyy. They were mostly silent until they reached the deserted buffet and started piling cookies onto two plates.

"Hey, I was wondering," Skyy started, breaking their silence. Tai looked up at her from the cookies.

"Hm?"

"Why Mimi? And why so quickly?" Skyy asked. Tai laughed lightly.

"I guess it was pretty quick huh?" he said grinning. Skyy nodded.

"Yeah, I could've sworn and the start of this vacation you were still crushing on Sora," Skyy said. Tai shrugged.

"I guess, but when I saw Mimi standing there in the airport it kind of sealed the deal," Tai said. Skyy raised an eyebrow.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, you know me and Meems had been talking more online and phoning each other and stuff right?" he said. Skyy smiled.

"I didn't know you two had been phoning each other," she grinned widely. Tai blushed.

"Yeah, we phoned about once a week in some cases, just chatting about whatever when we were bored. But yeah, I guess I never told you, but I once had a teensy crush on her a while ago, like back when we were 15," Tai confessed. Skyy gawked at him.

"What? No waay! You liked Sora back then!" she said. Tai shrugged.

"Yeah, I liked Mimi a little bit but it was no where compared to how much I liked Sora so I never paid to much mind to it." Tai said. "I mean I thought Meems was cute and funny, and sometimes I thought about what it'd be like to date her, but that was it."

Skyy grinned as she listened and plucked random flavored cookies. Tai continued, picking out more cookies as well.

"And besides, the more Sora and Matt were together I started giving up on Sora more and more, because hey, look at how into each other those two are," Tai laughed. "But one day when Mimi was the only person online and I was super bored, I started a conversation with her; we ended up talking for about 4 hours after that." Tai smiled warmly. "After that we talked more online, and eventually started calling each other. We talked about ourselves, and about things we liked and surprisingly, had in common."

"I guess my old crush for her started to resurface then, but it was only little and I didn't really recognize it then. But when the cruise came up I couldn't stop thinking about seeing her again, seeing how she'd grown up and stuff. I just assumed it was because she was a good friend and I missed her. But when I saw her standing there in the airport, I don't know, I felt my heart pounding super hard and I just thought how pretty she looked." Tai smiled at the cookies on his plate. He shrugged.

"And I don't know, the more time we spent together the more I was finally realizing how my feelings for her built up, then I got the idea to confess to her and ask her out, just to see if I really liked her as much as I thought I did."

Skyy glanced over at him. "And do you?"

"Hell yes! She's seriously got me around her finger more that I ever thought!" Tai laughed. Skyy smiled warmly.

"I'm happy for you," she said. Tai smiled genuinely. He hugged her shoulders lightly.

"Thanks Skyy, I guess confessing to her was the best choice I've made in a while because I'm so obsessed with her know I don't see how I ever doubted my feelings before," Tai laughed again.

"You really like her don't you?" Skyy grinned. Tai nodded.

"Yeah, I really like her," he smiled to himself.

"Jeez man! Why didn't you tell any of this to me before?" Skyy said swatting him playfully over the shoulder. Tai shrugged.

"Because I'm a dude, I answer when I'm asked, and you never asked. Plus I'm not a girl, I don't get into the whole who likes who and feelings talk," Tai said scrunching his face. Skyy rolled her eyes.

"Men!" she laughed. Tai chuckled.

"Hey, sorry I couldn't really talk to Iz tonight, I'll see if I can speak to him tomorrow morning or something. I think he needs a bit to cool his head, plus he's obviously not going to talk to anyone tonight," Tai said rolling his eyes. Skyy's frowned a bit and looked down at her plate.

"Yeah...I thought so too..." she said sighing. "Anyway, I'm going to apologize to him tomorrow when I can, so you can talk to him if you want, but you don't have too," Skyy said. Tai waved a hand.

"Nah, I kinda want to. I've never gotten to beat any sense into Izzy, so it'll be fun," Tai's eyes sparkled as he teased. Skyy raised an eyebrow.

"Don't be too cruel," she joked. Tai smiled innocently. They stood in silence for about a minute before Tai spoke up again.

"Hey, I think we've got enough grub, we should head back," Tai said looking down at his mountain full of cookies. Skyy looked down at hers and laughed. It seemed she wasn't paying attention to the cookies and just kept piling more and more onto her plate.

"Yeaah, let's hope we can finish these," she laughed. Tai raised and eyebrow as they walked away from the buffet.

"What do you mean? My plate is for the guys, those are all yours to eat," he said. Skyy pouted.

"Hey! No way man! Your helping me eat these!" Skyy said trying to swat him. Tai dodged her hand whilst laughing and sticking his tongue out at her. Skyy rolled her eyes but was laughing under her breath. Tai turned around as they reached the elevators. Skyy watched his back as she followed him into the elevator.

It seems Tai was able to cheer her up without her realizing it again. He was always good at that. That's why Skyy loved hanging out with him. This is also why he was her best friend in the whole world. Tai always seemed to know her inside and out. She would never regret befriending him. Never.

The two friends made their way back to the boys' cabin and when they got there the program was still on. Tai gave Matt a plate and chucked some cookies at Izzy's head before lying down on his own bed. Skyy took her plate with her and sat down on her spot on the floor. Tai then patted the spot next to him and told her to come sit with him. She glanced at Izzy's figure on his bed. He was still ignoring them and was typing something on his laptop. Skyy shrugged and scootched up to Tai, leaning her head on his shoulder. They both dug into the cookies and became absorbed in the show. Though Skyy was a little pleased when Izzy came down to go to the bathroom and gave her and Tai and little jealous looking glance before disappearing into the bathroom. After he finished he had climbed back up to his bed without looking at them. Skyy rolled her eyes at him and decide to focus on the show, taking another cookie to munch on.

The show was really long and she stayed there with them for about another hour and a half eating the cookies absent mindedly. It was getting really late and Skyy remembered the credits of the show, but she also remembered the warmth of Tai's body next to hers.

So it was only natural she fell asleep on him.

She woke up a few hours later, well she assumed it was a few hours later. The TV had been turned off and all the lights were off as well. Tai was still next to her in the same position and she felt his steady breathing. He was asleep. There was no glow from Izzy's laptop so she assumed he had fallen asleep too.

Skyy slowly edged away from Tai and moved the half empty plate of cookies onto the ground. She sat up and walked over to the door trying not to be too noisy. She was pretty sleepy so she stumbled at bit as she walked. She was literally forcing herself to move or else she'd be tempted to go back and fall asleep next to Tai.

She opened the door as quietly as she could and stepped out into the hallway. She closed the door with a light click and turned to open the door to her own stateroom. She opened and closed her door as quietly as she had done to the boys', knowing her female friends were asleep too. Surprisingly, one of the bedside lights was still on, even though her two friends were fast asleep. Skyy smiled lightly to herself. They probably kept it on in case she came back to the room and they were already asleep.

Skyy quickly changed into her PJs and crawled into bed. It was then she felt the crunching underneath her. She sat up and found another note scrunched under her. The note was half open. The creases in the note had been folded the opposite ways that it had originally been folded, which means someone had read it already before her. Skyy lightly glared at her sleeping friends. Jeez. Her nosy friends. Reading her secret notes before she did.

Skyy looked back at the note, looking at her name written on the outside. She laughed lightly when the sender and tried to write her name in bubble letters instead of the usual curly lettering. She opened the note and held it close to the bed side light so she could see the words properly.

**As Tomorrow is the last day. I don****'t want to be too forward in saying: I Love You, I have for a long time. From, X**

Skyy felt her face flush red and become warm. Wow. Love? This person **loved** her? That was serious. But Skyy frowned in confusion. A long time? How was that possible? Brayden had only known her for a supposed week. How could he have loved her for a long time? Skyy laid her head on her pillow whilst still looking at the note. She reached for her sketchbook between the bed and the side table and flipped it open to put away the last note.

Suddenly something fell from the book and rolled onto the floor. Skyy groaned as she got up from her comfy position to go pick it up. She raised an eyebrow when she saw the little red rock Izzy had given her back in Seattle. She picked it up and gazed at it, smiling warmly. She sat back down on her bed and curled her feet under the covers. She rubbed her fingers over the smooth surface of the tiny rock. She put the last note away in her sketchbook and tucked it back into its hiding spot.

Skyy lay down and clutched the rock in her hand. Izzy had given her this rock, so therefore, it was very precious. Skyy closed her eyes and breathed in the scent of the pillow, which smelt like a hotel. She envisioned Izzy's flustered face when he had given her the rock. She smiled to herself. He had been so cute and dorky then. So shy, and warm. Skyy's heart began to ache. How could she have made him mad tonight? She really needed to apologize to him. She hated that he was ignoring her. Izzy was the light of her life and his attention was very precious to her. Skyy frowned and clutched the rock tighter in her hand. She kissed the rock lightly and slipped it back into her sketchbook. She flicked off the light and snuggled deeper into her covers.

Thoughts of Izzy filled her mind as her drowsiness from before came flooding back. Sleep enveloped her and she drifted off in the darkness of her cabin. The slight rocking and creaking of the ship being the only sounds one would be able to hear.

End – Day Eight


	9. Day 9: Friday

Digimon Adventure 02 – Summer in Alaska

Day Nine

Skyy remembered three things the morning of their last day on the ship. She remembered someone coming into her cabin, someone carrying her, then the freezing sensation of water engulfing her entire body.

First Skyy woke up slightly when she heard the door of the girls' cabin slowly being opened. She also remembered hearing Sora get out of bed to greet the person at the door. They spoke in hushed voices and Skyy didn't remember what they were talking about because she didn't care and soon drifted back to sleep. She was so asleep that when she woke up again, she felt she wasn't in her bed anymore. Two sets of arms were carrying her somewhere. She knew she was dreaming so she allowed herself to fall asleep again. She had been up very late last night and it was causing her to have weird dreams.

Then, all of a sudden Skyy was shocked awake when the two sets of arms swung her and let go. She landed in the cold waters of a pool and she became instantly soaked. Skyy was immediately woken as the water surrounded her and she was plunged underwater. She instantly swam up to the surface for air. As soon as her head broke the surface she heard the sound of laughter filling the area. She whipped around to see Tai and Sora buckling over with laughter. She glared at them.

"What the fuck!" she snapped. The water was freezing and Skyy was shivering like there was no tomorrow. Also the wind blowing didn't help much either. Skyy could already feel the tips of her nose and fingers start to numb. Sora ceased her laughing for Tai was not going to be able to for a while.

"Sorry Skyy, but you were so out of it and it was just perfect entertainment!" Sora giggled. Skyy glared at them as her wet hair stuck to the sides of her face and her PJs stuck to her body. She waded closer to them, feeling that her feet could actually touch the bottom of the pool. She swatted a small wave of water at her two friends and they quickly scooted away from the splash whilst still laughing. Skyy scowled and climbed out of the pool. She looked around and saw only a few other passengers sitting around and laughing quietly. She glared at the ground. Tai finally stopped laughing and came over to help her up.

"Sorry again, but it was sooo funny!" Tai grinned. Skyy balled her fist and punched him hard in the shoulder. He didn't dodge it though she knew he could've.

"You jerk! I'm so getting you back for this!" she snapped, though her lips were staring to crack into a smile. Tai chuckled.

"I guess I deserved that. Anyway, here's a towel, let's get you dried off before you catch a cold," Tai smiled as he wrapped a towel around her shoulders. Skyy instantly clutched the towel closer to her.

"You have our permission to get back at us whenever you want," Sora smiled coming up to the two. Skyy rolled her eyes. You bet she was going to get them back for it. Tai and Sora led her back to the girls' cabin whilst still lightly giggling about it before Skyy mouthed off to them for it.

When they got back to their cabins Skyy headed for the shower right away. She had noticed though that Mimi wasn't there. Sora had told her she got up early to go the spa, because she hadn't gotten to go yet. Skyy quickly took off her wet PJs and set them aside to dry. She stayed in the shower a little longer than usual just so she could warm up the numb parts of her body. She slightly swayed in the shower because of the rocking of the boat.

Today was indeed their last full day on the boat and then they'd be getting off at Seattle early the next day. Their last port of call was Victoria, British Columbia. They were still presently at sea, and they'd arrive in Victoria at about 7:00 that evening. It would be more like a party port because many of the older teens would be out bar hopping because the legal drinking age was 19. Skyy and her friends were still too young so they probably wouldn't be doing that. Skyy didn't know if Jeremy wanted to though. As much as he liked drinking she figured he'd want to hang out with her and her friends more.

When Skyy finally left the warm shower and got out of the bathroom Sora was picking out clothes. Skyy lay down on her bed to cool off from the hot shower before drying her hair. It was quiet for a little while and Skyy almost thought she'd go back to sleep before Sora spoke up.

"So uh…did you get another note last night?" Sora asked. Skyy raised an eyebrow.

"Oh come on, I already know you guys read it before I got in," Skyy grinned. Sora laughed lightly.

"Are we that easy to read?" Sora joked.

"Yeah, also the fact that you folded the paper back the wrong way," Skyy replied.

"Oh really? Oops, our stealth skills aren't very good," Sora laughed, "but what I'm wondering is, since it's been confirmed that the notes are from Brayden, when are you going to talk to him about it?"

Skyy shrugged. "I don't know…I mean, are we sure it really is Brayden writing the notes?" Skyy said, not really liking the topic they were talking about. Sora sighed in annoyance.

"Yes! It's obviously Brayden, everything connects!" Sora said. Skyy raised her hands.

"Okay, okay! It's Brayden," she said quickly in defence.

"So, when are you going to talk to him about it?" Sora asked again. Skyy stalled as she thought about her answer.

"Well, I guess, tonight maybe. Since it the last night and all," Skyy said, "but, I don't really want to talk to him about it."

"Why not?"

"Because, then I'll have to turn him down, and by now he probably thinks I like him back or something...knowing a guys mind," Skyy said. Sora cocked her head.

"Why would he think that?" she asked. Skyy became uncomfortable.

"Well, because…" she stalled again. Suddenly Sora whipped around to face her.

"Wait! Did something happen whilst you two were dancing last night?" she asked. Her eyes got all sparkly and a sly smile curved her mouth. Skyy groaned and hid her face in her hands. Sora squealed and bounced over to her.

"Something did happen didn't it? What is it? What happened?" she asked. Skyy's face became red. Skyy bit her lip after hesitating. Sora pushed her arm lightly, encouraging her to speak.

"Well, Brayden kissed me last night," Skyy said quickly. Sora raised an eyebrow.

"Oh that? Yeah we all saw him do that," Sora said, slumping a little.

"No I mean, not the kiss on my cheek, I mean he **kissed** me," Skyy groaned. Sora's sly smile returned.

"Like, on the mouth?" she asked. Skyy nodded. Sora erupted into more squeals.

"Yaay Skyy! You had your first kiss!" Sora said hugging her. Skyy frowned.

"No Sora, that's not a good thing, I was saving that and he stole it from me without my permission!" Skyy snapped. Sora rolled her eyes.

"Well I know you would've wanted it to be with Izzy or something, but hey, life doesn't always go as planned Skyy, you have to take it as it comes," Sora said. Skyy stared at her.

"Well jeez when did you become so wise about the ways of life?" Skyy grinned. Sora shrugged.

"I've been with Matt since I was 15, I know some things," Sora grinned. Skyy rolled her eyes.

"But still, that kiss, it created an unpleasant situation," Skyy said, remembering Izzy's reaction and feeling sad. Sora watched her expression change.

"So that's why Izzy was stomping off, he saw you guys?" she asked. Skyy shook her head.

"No, he heard me and Tai talking about it because Tai saw it when he came to get me. Brayden did it just as we were saying goodbye," Skyy explained. Sora nodded.

"Yes well, he'll get around it soon," Sora concluded. Skyy frowned. Sora sighed.

"Anyway, lunch should be out soon at the buffet so let's get ready quickly before stuff starts running out," Sora said, hopping to her feet and heading over to the bathroom.

Sora got in the shower and Skyy started drying her hair. Instead of leaving her to meet the guys, Skyy decided to stay with Sora and wait until she finished getting ready. Skyy still wasn't keen on the idea of being around Izzy right now, especially if he was still going to ignore them all. Though she'd have to see him soon anyway. Tai had phoned them a little bit earlier to confirm that they were meeting at the buffet for lunch.

Skyy was still set on apologizing to Izzy and she had to do it as soon as possible to avoid a tense day. She decided to pull him away some time during lunch and do it then. Hopefully he wasn't as bitter today and they'd be able to make up.

Soon Sora was finished getting ready and they both headed upstairs for lunch. They were lucky because just as they got up to the buffet and found a table, the chefs were putting out all the freshly made lunch platters. The boys were surprisingly, and thankfully, not there yet. Skyy kept glancing at the doors waiting to see if the boys had come yet. She was getting a little nervous about seeing Izzy. Would he still be mad at her?

When she and Sora got food they found Mimi walking around with a plate of food and quickly led her to their table. She had just gotten back from the spa and was raving about the services there.

Soon the boys came. They quickly said hi and then left to get food though. Skyy didn't get to see if Izzy was still feeling the same because he was talking to Matt about something and didn't look at the girls before they left.

When they got back though her thoughts were confirmed. Izzy was still mad. He refused to look at her unless she was talking and he'd glance up at her sometimes. He seemed a little bitter towards Tai, which got Skyy thinking that maybe Tai had spoken to him this morning. As the conversation dwindled and everybody was finishing their food, Skyy finally got the courage to speak up.

"Um, Izzy could I talk to you outside for a minute?" she said, her face starting to feel warm. Izzy looked up at her from his food, a little surprised. He glanced at Tai before Tai gave him a warning look. Izzy scowled at him and sat up from his seat, setting down his fork.

"Yeah sure," he muttered. Skyy smiled lightly and sat up. Everybody watched them as they left and Skyy wished they wouldn't. She led Izzy just outside the doors of the buffet, right by the elevators. There wasn't that many people there so then the conversation would be less embarrassing. She turned to face him and he stopped in front of her.

"So…what's up?" he asked, avoiding eye contact with her directly. Skyy took a deep breath.

"I'm sorry, I'm really sorry," she said. Izzy`s eyes widened – looking taken aback.

"What?" he croaked. Skyy`s face became red.

"I said I'm sorry okay? For the kissing thing last night, he took me by surprise, otherwise I wouldn't have let him do that," she said. Izzy`s stared at her and a bunch of emotions seemed to flash across his face. Anger, hurt, sadness, and guilt. He was quiet for about half a minuet before he decided to speak. Skyy was glad because the lasting silence made her feel even more embarrassed and awkward.

"Yeah…I know," he mumbled. Skyy raised an eyebrow.

"You know?" she said. Izzy nodded.

"Yeah…Tai talked to me earlier, and, I really was out of line….and I should be the one apologizing," Izzy said looking at the ground. Skyy stared at him. Was he serious?

"Oh…okay," was all she was able to say. Izzy glanced to her and then to the ground, shifting his feet.

"I don't know why but, I just got really mad when I found out he kissed you," Izzy confessed. Skyy smiled lightly.

"Well, I was pretty pissed too, I mean he did it out of nowhere and I didn't think I showed him any signs that I was ever interested," Skyy huffed. Izzy cracked a tiny smile but it was gone as soon as it came. Izzy glanced at her from the floor again before looking back down.

"So uh, are you sure you don't like him?" he asked hesitantly. Skyy grinned.

"Nope, he's not my…type," Skyy said smiling. Izzy smiled lightly again. They stood in silence for a moment. Skyy turned her head so that she could see his eyes.

"So, have we made up now? We friends again?" Skyy asked. Izzy chuckled and looked at her straight in the eye which made her heart thump a little bit faster.

"Yes, we're still friends," he said. Skyy smiled widely and straightened up.

"Sooo, can I have a hug then?" she asked. He blushed, but smiled. He wrapped his arms around her waist and hugged her.

"Always," he said. His breath tickled her ear and Skyy smiled widely, wrapping her arms around his neck. Her heart swelled with happiness. Her Izzy was back again! She breathed in his scent and recognized the smell of lemon. She leaned back to look at him.

"Did you change your soap?" she asked, knowing he didn't like cologne. He smiled.

"Yeah, I changed to a different one, lemon scented," he chuckled. She smiled and hugged him again, for his arms were till around her waist.

"Good, I like this better," she smiled and dug her face into his neck. He rested his chin on her shoulder and she felt him smile.

"I'll keep this one then," he said, laughing lightly. She smiled and they hugged for a little while. It was until Izzy finally broke away that they realized how long they'd actually been hugging for. They both blushed, embarrassed that they had embraced for so long.

"Well, we should probably head back now," Izzy said. Skyy nodded.

"Yeah, lets go," she said and they both walked back with blushes on their faces but light smiles on their mouths.

When they got back to the table Tai studied both of them before coming to a conclusion and flashing them both a satisfied grin. Skyy smiled at him, mentally thanking him for talking to Izzy earlier. Nobody asked what she and Izzy had talked about because they all kind of knew anyway. They quickly finished their lunches and the girls then decided to go back to their rooms to pack their suitcases. The suitcases all had to be packed and ready that night because the staff would then take them and organize them to be taken off the ship so passengers could get them when they got off the ship.

The girls said goodbye to the guys and headed down one floor to their cabin. Once they got there they each pulled out their suitcases and started putting in clothes. As Skyy put in her stuff she realized something.

"Hey…we never bought any souvenirs..." she said. Mimi looked over at her from the closet.

"Your right, but the souvenirs here are all kind of cheap tourist stuff, I was waiting to buy something in Seattle," Mimi said.

"We should pick up some postcards or something tonight for the others though," Sora said. Skyy nodded.

"Yeah, I'd feel bad if we didn't get them anything from any of the ports we went to," Skyy said. "But I don't know if I'll get something for myself…I'd have to really like it to buy it," she said. Sora and Mimi nodded.

They continued packing their clothes and shoes and other things away. Skyy was all too happy to pack her formal dresses away. Skyy only saved on outfit for the next day, her PJs, and an outfit for later that night for she assumed they'd be going to the teen center. She was done packing early because she hadn't brought as much as Sora and Mimi. Skyy lay down on her bed and flipped on the TV to pass time. Though soon she could feel her eye lids drooping down with sleep. She really had stayed up late the other night and her unpleasant wake up call didn't help. Skyy drifted to sleep before she even noticed she was.

She woke about four and a half hours later with the phone of their cabin ringing loudly. Skyy groaned and got up to answer. She noticed Mimi and Sora curled up on Sora's bed sleeping too. She grinned at them before picking up the receiver of the phone.

"Hello?" she answered. She was greeted by a light chuckle that was only Matt's.

"Fell asleep did you? Well hate to burst your bubble but we're arriving in Victoria now, thought I'd wake you guys up so you'd have enough time to collect yourselves and watch us coming into port," Matt said. Skyy smiled.

"Okay, I've been sleeping way too long anyway, are you guys up on the pool deck?" she asked, yawning in between.

"Yep."

"Okay, we'll meet you soon then," Skyy said then hung up the phone. She turned and woke up her two friends. They all quickly packed the last minute stuff into their suitcases, leaving out the toiletries and clothes they'd need to get ready in the morning, and zipped them up. They carried them out into the hall and Mimi told them they just needed to leave them outside the door. The girls noticed some other suitcases already outside the doors as well. The guys' were out also and Skyy figured they had come before to pack then left.

The girls headed upstairs and found the boys on the deck above the pool deck that looked out onto the water. They all leaned against the railing and watched the ship come into port. The sun was slowly starting to set, and the colors of pink, yellow and purple were starting to slightly stain the clouds. Skyy clicked pictures as the ship got closer and closer to the docks. They watched their ship slowly ease beside the port, then they watched the ship being tied up and the ramps connect to the side of the boat. As soon as the announcement came on from the brig saying it was okay for passengers to get off the ship the group of six teens headed down to the loading deck to get in line and get off. Luckily they met with Jeremy and his family in the line. Jeremy asked is family and they allowed him to stay with Skyy and her friends. She was happy that his family was okay with it. Jeremy was spending a lot of time with them and she was worried his family was unhappy that they weren't with him most of the time. But they were fine so Skyy was glad, and a little relieved, that Jeremy got to join them.

They all got off the ship and were greeted by a bunch of people handing out Canadian pins and flags and stamps. Skyy took pictures of them and happily took a pin. Jeremy took a pin too and a flag, and stuck the flag in his shirt. They looked around for taxis and compared prices. They figured it was easier and cheaper to just walk. They walked through a small neighbourhood of houses. Skyy kept stopping to take pictures of all the cute houses she liked.

In about 10 to 15 minutes they reached the main strip of the downtown and were surrounded by stores, buildings and taxis. The downtown was next to a bay so there were a lot of sailing boats out in the bay or docked at the marina. They reached the street with all of the clothing and food shops and tourist shops. They spotted and beauty shop and Sora and Mimi dragged them all in.

The shop was very interesting with many unique looking beauty products. Some of the soaps looked like blocks of fudge or candy. Some looked like jello or some weird mushy blob. Tai, Matt and Jeremy were busy making fun of the way the products looked. There was a guy who was trying to sell this hand cream thing. He coaxed Skyy over and gave her a free hand massage with the cream he was selling whilst talking to her about all of the other products and about the shop. She would just nod at him, not really listening. Sometimes he would crack a joke and Skyy would only laugh because his laugh was so funny sounding. Mimi was watching her and started asking questions about the cream, obviously more interested then Skyy was. After the massage Skyy didn't mind going through that whole ordeal because it made her hands really soft and made them smell nice.

She didn't buy the cream, but Mimi did. Skyy only bought a small box of vanilla scented soaps. They were also supposed to cleanse skin and get rid of scarring and make your skin really smooth. They all left with stuffy noses because of all the different scents floating around the store. Skyy sort of walked alone because Tai and Mimi were holding hands in front of her, and Matt and Sora were holding hands in front of Tai and Mimi. Jeremy was walking in between them and was whistling to himself, obviously in his own world. Skyy pouted. Jeez, talk about no fun. Both the couples were in their own little conversations as they walked.

Just then Izzy came up beside her and hesitantly took her free hand in his. Skyy jumped lightly in surprise and looked over to him. He had a blush on his face. He looked ahead of him though, too nervous to look right at Skyy's face.

"Well, it's just that your hands are really smooth now because of that cream thing, so It'd be a waste to not hold your hand right?" Izzy mumbled quickly. Skyy smiled. It sounded like he'd just made that up on the spot as an excuse. Skyy squeezed his hand.

"Of **course**," she said sarcastically. Izzy chuckled lightly. They all walked a little while more until they found the Rogers Chocolate store. They each bought some chocolates for their other friends back home before buying little bars for themselves. Skyy bought a vanilla bar whilst Izzy bought a lemon one. They shared their chocolate happily as they left the store and kept walking down the street.

They stopped off at a tourist store and bought some postcards too at Skyy's request. She felt bad for not getting their other friends anything so she persuaded the others to buy postcards for them. Jeremy got a post card for his girlfriend back home.

As they walked, the sun set was becoming more apparent and bright colors flashed across the sky. The street lights turned on and the sky started to slowly become darker.

As the teens kept walking down the main downtown street there were many street performers. Some were really good and Skyy took pictures of them, and even video taped some of them on her camera. As soon as one street performer's music began to drain away as you walked further, another performer's music became clearer.

As the teens had walked down the street and turned to walk back, they reached the Empress Hotel right by the bay. Skyy had heard that the hotel was really pretty so she dragged them all inside so she could take pictures. All of the furniture and decorations was that of an old vintage hotel. Part of the hotel was a big greenhouse type thing with a lot of colorful plants that Skyy kept gushing over. It was until her friends got tired of it that they finally dragged her out.

They walked some more and noticed horses pulling carriages. Skyy had never been on a horse carriage before and was happy when Mimi wanted to go on one. They found the area where people were paying to get the carriages and they all quickly paid to get a ride. They got a nice pretty black carriage with two pretty white horses pulling.

They rode all the way through the downtown area and the person driving the carriage talked about the town and its histories. Since it was getting dark and a little chilly, there were blankets provided for the passengers on the carriage. Skyy curled up in one and because she was beside Izzy, she slowly leaned against him. She felt him relax with her against him and he lightly rested his arm around her shoulders. She smiled into the blanket.

She was so happy she had made up with Izzy this morning. If she hadn't she might not be like this with him right now. Even though he hadn't been mad at her for a long time, she had missed his warmth and she was ecstatic to be able to be near him again. She never really thought about how affectionate Izzy was towards her until now. They way he always held her waist or hugged her, or let her cuddle up next to him. She also loved that he was like that. Though she noticed he never did that with any of their other female friends. Maybe she was special. Maybe she was the one girl Izzy was closest too, so he allowed that kind of contact. Skyy was glad it was that way. She'd be super jealous if he was closer with any other girl and treated her like he treated Skyy.

Skyy was mentally happy that Izzy wasn't friends with many girls his own age. Izzy was usually shy around girls, so he never approached them. Actually he never really approached anyone. He was always absorbed with his laptop or stuff with the Digital World that he never talked to anyone he didn't know unless they approached him first. And if you didn't know him, he was kind of a hard person to approach because he always seemed too secluded and in his own world. Skyy smiled to herself. Somehow she liked those aspects of Izzy. It made him more attractive to her. Maybe it was because he was that way, anyone he was really close too was his girlfriend would be able to approach him but it would be harder for anybody else too. She laughed lightly to herself. She had weird taste in guys.

Once the horse ride was over they all wanted to go back to the ship. There was only so much to see in Victoria and it was getting dark, and late. Considering they hadn't had dinner yet either they were all super hungry and didn't want to waste money eating in Victoria when they could have a free meal on the ship.

They all walked through the dark streets of the neighborhood they went though earlier. As they got to the ship they waited in the short line to board and soon they got their keycards and passports accepted before they walked up the ramp and back onto the ship. They all headed to the pool deck and to their surprise the big movie screen was up and working and was playing a movie Skyy, grudgingly, recognized as Twilight. Mimi and Sora wanted to stay and watch so they all found a group of empty pool chairs and curled up. The boys went to get some food for dinner whilst the girls saved the seats. When they got back the girls then left to get food. They ate their warm dinners happily and went back to the buffet for seconds.

They watched the movie, sort of, for a little while. Even though it was in English Sora had memorized the script in Japanese. The other guys didn't really watch the movie. Jeremy and Skyy had fun making fun of the acting and the lines in the movie. After a while though the movie was turned off halfway through and a person with a microphone camp up to the main bar and stage on the pool deck.

Okay passengers! Its 10:00 which means it's time for our farewell pool party! We've got our dance floor out and our bar fully stocked. We've got the latest and greatest music for you guys and lots of food set up! So come, lets get this party started!" the announcer said happily and the DJ at the stage started to blast some music.

The friends were all in a partying mood and decided to go down to their cabins and change into some better clothes. They said goodbye to Jeremy as he went back to his cabin to change.

When they got to their rooms Skyy was glad she saved an outfit from her suitcase and kept it in the drawers just in case. She'd have to stuff them into her carry-on bag tomorrow morning, but whatever. She found her olive green shirt with lacy patters near the breasts and light ruffles at the bottom and put it on. She also put on a black lacy skirt that stopped halfway down her thighs and poofed out a little bit. She put on a green armband that matched her shirt and put on blue high heels with matching blue clips in her hair, which she left down.

As soon as the girls finished getting ready they met up with the boys at their cabin and went back upstairs. As they reached the pool deck the party was in full swing. The music was blaring and a bunch of people, and many teenagers, were out dancing on the dance floor. Sparkly lights hung over top and lit the deck. Also, bright stage lights flashed and moved all over the dance floor, passing over the dancing people. Some people were hanging out in the pool and some were sitting and watching, maybe eating some food, on the pool chairs.

Skyy spotted Jeremy's blonde hair and flagged him over. He came over happily and the teens wandered around, looking for a table to sit at. They found one and got some drinks from the bar, courtesy of Jeremy. Once again Skyy got a drink that didn't have a lot of alcohol in it. This time Izzy even got a drink, though it was like Skyy's, there wasn't much alcohol in it. Soon after Skyy got her light buzz, she dragged Mimi and Sora out onto the dance floor with her. They made their way to the middle of the crowd. They even found Hailey, Sara and Naomi dancing and decided to join the other girls. They were dancing for a while and Skyy felt the night slipping away.

She was a little sad because this was their last night on the ship. She'd have to have as much fun as she could tonight. Take lots of pictures too. She had her camera in her pocket and took pictures of all the girls on the dance floor. They all posed and had goofy faces for some of the pictures. Just then Skyy saw Brayden squeezing through the dance floor past them. He didn't notice them but Skyy saw him. She remembered her conversation with Sora. She sighed and thought she may as well suck it up and ask Brayden about the notes now that she had the chance. She turned to the other girls and said she'd be right back.

She quickly caught up to Brayden just as he left the crowd of dancers. Skyy caught his arm with her hand and he turned around, surprised.

"Oh! Skyy!" He grinned widely, "I was just looking for you," he said and leaned in to kiss her. Skyy dodged and he looked at her with a puzzled look.

"First I need to ask you something," she said in English. Brayden raised and eyebrow.

"Oh, okay, sure" he said shrugging. Skyy took a deep breath and just went for it.

"Are you X?" she asked quickly. Her face was becoming warm. Brayden cocked his head and frowned.

"Huh?" he said. Skyy felt her stomach drop a little. Jeez, she didn't want to have to repeat it! She took another breath and repeated more slowly this time.

"Are you the one sending me those notes everyday by the name of X?" she asked. She was waiting for him to blush and say yes. But strangely…he didn't.

"X? What are you talking about? You've been getting notes?" he asked. Skyy stared at him. Her mouth almost fell open.

"You mean…you have no idea what I'm talking about?" she asked. He shook his head.

"Sorry, no," he said shrugging. Skyy was ready to throw her hands in the air and give up. If it wasn't Brayden, the most obvious choice, then who the hell was it! Skyy groaned.

"Oh god, that makes this way more confusing…" Skyy said rubbing her temples. Brayden looked at her with a confused expression.

"Uhh, okay?" Brayden said. Skyy sighed.

"It's just someone calling themselves X has been placing secret notes in my cabin every day. They say they like me and keep giving me hints to who they are. All the hints in the notes matched you so I thought for sure it was you sending them," Skyy explained. Brayden nodded.

"Ohhh, well it seems I have competition," Brayden laughed. Skyy frowned.

"Huh?"

"Never mind," Brayden smiled. Skyy sighed again.

"Yeah, you said you were looking for me, what did you want to talk about?" she asked. She immediately regretted saying that though thinking of what he might actually want to say.

"Oh! Haha, well I just wanted to say…" Brayden said, blushing lightly and scratching the back of this head shyly. Suddenly a hand touched her shoulder lightly. Brayden looked behind her and closed his mouth in a second. Skyy turned around and her eyes widened. Izzy stood there awkwardly looking at both of them, he seemed out of breath, like he'd just rushed over.

"Um, hey Skyy, can I talk to you for a minute?" he asked, blushing deeper. Skyy bit her lip.

"But I was talking to Brayden…" she said reverting to Japanese, though she sounded like she didn't really want to keep talking to Brayden.

"This'll only take a second," Izzy said quickly. Skyy turned to Brayden.

"Um, I'll be right back okay? I just have to talk to my friend for a second," she said in English. Brayden looked at Izzy suspiciously but nodded.

"Yeah, come back though okay? Cause it's important," he said. Skyy nodded and turned to face Izzy as Brayden walked away, looking back at them behind his shoulder.

"Hey Iz, what's up?" she asked. Izzy glanced around nervously.

"Um, can we actually go somewhere else to talk? This place is kind of…crowded, and loud," he said. Skyy cocked her head to the side.

"Oh, uh sure, okay," she said. Izzy took her hand and started leading her away from the party. She wasn't really paying attention to where he was taking her though. She was still confused about the notes. Everything and she meant **everything** pointed towards Brayden. If it wasn't her first choice then who was it? She suddenly got scared that it might be Aaron secretly still sending them to her. Was he stalking her without her knowing or something? Skyy tried to ignore that possibility and think of other people. She gave up shortly after though, there was absolutely no one else!

When she finally clued back into her surroundings she realized she was on the top deck above the pool deck, looking down on it. It was the same deck they always came up to when they were looking out to the ocean. The boat had already left Victoria and was sailing away into the darkness. Skyy looked around surprised. Since when did Izzy lead her up the stairs? She didn't remember going up the stairs. Also, why did they have to walk so far from everyone else?

"Hey Iz, where are we going?" she asked finally. Just then Izzy stopped and she lightly bumped into his back. She was about to ask what he wanted to talk about when he whipped around. His face was beat red and he leaned in quickly.

Before Skyy could collect her thoughts or utter any words, Izzy's lips connected with hers. Skyy's body literally froze and all of her muscles locked. A jolt of lightning coursed through her body. Her eyes were wide open but not really looking at anything. She felt her face get warmer and warmer and warmer.

Izzy was kissing her. Izzy was **kissing** her. **Izzy** was freaking **KISSING** her!

Skyy felt her body melt and her heart swell so much she thought it might burst. A hot warmth pooled in her stomach and she had to keep her knees from buckling. She had no idea what to do with herself so she just ended up standing their awkwardly.

His kiss was hesitant, and somewhat fearful. He was light and wasn't trying to force anything on her. It seemed much sweeter than Brayden's kiss had been, which had been more shy. The kiss lasted about 10 seconds before Izzy broke it and leaned back. His face was a red as a tomato and he bit his lip.

Skyy opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came out. She was trying with all of her will power to speak, but her body wouldn't let her. They stood in silence before Izzy got the courage to look her straight in the eyes.

"Skyy, I…I love you…I have for a long time," he said boldly. He was a bit too loud but she assumed he was super nervous and wanted her to hear it so he wouldn't have to repeat his statement. Luckily no one was around to gawk at them.

Wait.

For a long time...? _"I have for a long time."_

Why did that sound so familiar?

Suddenly it all came rushing back to Skyy. Her eyes widened as she remembered where she'd heard it before.

_As tomorrow is the last day. I don__'t want to be too forward in saying: __**I love you, I have for a long time**__. From __**X.**_

…..

Skyy's mouth almost fell open. Izzy stared at her hopefully as she collected all of her thoughts together.

"You're….**you're** X!" she said. Izzy blushed deeper but his mouth cracked a tiny smile.

"Yeah…" he mumbled.

"But! But you can't speak English!" Skyy said quickly. All the notes had been hand written in English. Izzy grinned.

"Who said I couldn't speak English? You're not very observant Skyy," Izzy said in perfect English. Skyy stared at him. Though now that she'd thought about it, Izzy had never gotten the opportunity to speak English on the ship, and before when they were with their American friends, he had probably just been pretending that he didn't understand. Also, because Skyy didn't think he knew English she had never seen what his writing would look like in English.

It all came flooding into Skyy's mind. All those notes, they pointed straight to Izzy as well! The first note: he did like her, but she never knew it so he liked her from afar, but was her friend so he was close. The second note: he **was** her opposite. She was outgoing and artistic; he was shy and a computer geek. The third note: he was with her at the teen center every night so he knew about her singing and her winning the foosball tournament. The fourth note: he was on the train tour with her so he saw her in the train car with her camera. The fifth note: before he got the chance, Jeremy had asked her to dance the Rumba with him. Izzy had just sat out to watch but he was watching her the whole time. The sixth note: well he'd said it himself; he loved her and had for a long time.

Skyy almost wanted to smack her forehead. Izzy was waiting for her to speak and watched her think about it all in her head with a nervous expression. He was about to say something when Skyy finally found her voice and spoke.

"Jeez, it all makes **sense** now…but, why didn't you do it sooner?" she asked. Izzy blushed again.

"Uh well, if I'd confessed at the beginning of the cruise, and you'd refused, it would've been awkward for the rest of the vacation, I didn't want to put that burden on you," he explained.

"Then, why'd you do it now?" she asked. Izzy frowned.

"Because that jerk Brayden stole your first kiss, it fired me up and made me want to confess to you before he did," Izzy huffed. She nodded in understanding. They were silent for a moment and Izzy's blush became deeper as he opened his mouth to speak.

"So uh…your answer…you never said it," Izzy mumbled. Skyy paused. Crap! She totally forgot to reply to him. But before she answered, she decided to play with him a little bit. She grinned.

"But I didn't hear you ask a question, what was the question?" she asked slyly. Izzy turned beat red.

"W-well! I mean I **kissed** you! And I said that stuff!" he fumbled, embarrassed. "I just…what I wanted to ask was….will you be my girlfriend..?" he asked, to nervous to look at her in the eye. Skyy's heart swelled again and she smiled widely. She took is face in her hands lightly and pressed her lips on top of his. He froze for a second before smiling against her lips and wrapping his arms around her waist. Skyy laughed against his mouth as he kissed her back and she wrapped her arms around his neck. His hand slowly came up to cradle the back of her head.

The kiss was a little less shy this time and more meaningful. Skyy didn't know if this was his first kiss, but Izzy sure was good at it. Skyy didn't know really what to do and hoped she was kissing him right. She pulled back so she could take a breath. She leaned her forehead against his. He laughed, relieved.

"Is that a yes then?" he asked, hopeful. Skyy rolled her eyes.

"Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, and **yes**!" she said, laughing. Izzy smiled.

"Seriously?" he asked. Skyy smiled and gave him a small kiss.

"Seriously, seriously…believe me I'm as high off the ground as you right now," she chuckled. He smiled wider.

"Really? That's…seriously amazing," he said, blushing. Skyy laughed lightly.

"Hey um, could you speak some more English for me?" Skyy said, blushing a little bit. Izzy raised an eyebrow.

"Huh? Why?" he questioned. Skyy smiled and shrugged.

"Just because it sounds kinda hot when you speak it," she mumbled. Izzy turned beat red and smiled, embarrassed.

"W-what do I say?" he asked nervously. Skyy shrugged again.

"Anything,"

"Okay…you're the most amazing person I've ever met and I'm so happy to be with you right now," Izzy whispered in English into her ear. His voice tickled her ear and sent shivers down her spine. Skyy smiled and leaned in to kiss him again. He leaned in and quickly closed the gap. The kiss was deeper this time, a tiny bit needy too. Skyy felt they both had parted from reality and were in their own world now. She couldn't hear the blasting party music anymore. Only Izzy. The two of them, together.

She seriously wanted to explode with happiness. Izzy was her boyfriend. Izzy was her **boyfriend**. Izzy honestly **loved** her. This was mind-blowingly the best night of her entire life. Bar none. All Skyy could think right now was, _'finally!'_

Eventually though they had to come down from their high and return to the party. They decided not to tell anyone. The others could figure it out by themselves. Plus they weren't exactly the types to go around and parade their new relationship. Izzy led Skyy to the dance floor; they stayed a little bit away from the girls which were still dancing where Skyy left them.

Skyy and Izzy danced together for what seemed like the rest of the night. They were still in their own world and didn't want to be apart now that they had crossed the line that had been holding them back for so long and could finally be truly honest with each other. Skyy finally felt free and she could now express her feelings towards Izzy without thinking about consequences or being uncomfortable.

They danced a little bit more closely this time as well. Usually Izzy would just have his arms around her waist and Skyy would have her arms around his neck. Y'know, grade 8 style dancing. But this time they slightly were grinding. Skyy knew that Izzy was shy so she didn't want to dance too dramatically. But he was adjusting and slowly got used to this type of dancing.

Soon they got tired though and decided to head back to the table to get some more drinks. Tai saw them leaving the crowd of dancers and came up to say hi. He noticed their hands interlocked and gave Skyy a questioning look. Skyy glanced to Izzy before he just smiled and shrugged his shoulders. Skyy grinned and leaned closer to Tai. She whispered what had happened quickly in his ear before coming away from his face. Tai stood their in shock. Izzy and Skyy grinned at him proudly.

It took a couple seconds before Tai finally recomposed himself and a huge smile broke out on his face. He threw his hands into the air and whooped loudly. He wrapped his arms around Skyy and lifted her off the ground, making her grunt. He bounced her up and down yelling "Yay! Yay! Yay! Yay!" before finally putting her back down on her feet. She and Izzy laughed. Skyy quickly told him not to go spreading it around like gossip though, the others could figure out by themselves. He agreed before giving them both bone crushing hugs.

He soon though left them to go find Mimi. They said goodbye and Skyy and Izzy left to go to the table that Matt and Jeremy where still sitting at.

The rest of the night seemed to pass by much quicker than it had earlier. Skyy and Izzy had gotten a couple more light drinks whilst everyone else got stronger ones. Tai had a gotten a little drunk but Mimi made sure he didn't drink anymore. They all kept going back and forth from the dance floor to the sitting area. They would come back to the table when they were tired, then once they caught their breath they'd go back out on the dance floor again.

Everyone seemed to notice how close Izzy and Skyy were that night though. They were always holding hands or Izzy would have his arms around Skyy's waist. They'd always be physically touching in some way. Tai would only keep grinning at them whenever he saw them. Mimi and Sora seemed to catch on too and would always give them happy smiles. Matt and Jeremy didn't really seem to notice though.

As the night went on they all slowly got more tired. It was a round 2:00 before they all started getting too tired to even walk around or dance. They all just lounged at the table with half filled drinks and empty food plates. It was until Jeremy finally got up to go to bed that they all decided it was best to go back to the cabins. They said their goodbye's to Jeremy, Skyy giving him a big, long hug. They didn't know if they'd see him the next morning so they all exchanged phone numbers and e-mails as well.

As Jeremy parted ways, the group of six headed down one floor to their cabins. When they reached the staterooms Skyy was a little reluctant to let go of Izzy's hand. As the other couples said goodnight and headed into their rooms, Izzy quickly turned to face her. He smiled his goofy smile. He held the sides of her face lightly and kissed her on the lips. Skyy jumped, a little surprised, but smiled and kissed him back. She knew she'd definitely never get tired of kissing him. He pulled back slowly, leaving his hands on her face.

"Good night, Skyy" he said. Skyy smiled.

"Night," she mumbled. He smiled back and quickly kissed her again before letting go of her face and turning and going into his own cabin. Skyy stood there until his door clicked shut, not really wanting him to leave. She sighed and turned to go into her own cabin.

When she got in Sora and Mimi stood there with sly grins on their faces and sparkly eyes. Skyy saw them and stopped. She suddenly realized what was coming and groaned.

"Oh god, please no," she muttered. Mimi and Sora squealed and rushed up to her.

"We totally **saw** that! What **happened** with you and Izzy tonight huh?" Mimi squealed. Sora nodded fiercely. Skyy shrugged.

"Isn't it obvious?" she said. Sora rolled her eyes.

"Well yeah! But we want to hear how it went down!" Sora said excitedly. Skyy sighed.

"There's no getting out of this is there?" she said. Mimi and Sora shook their heads determinedly. Skyy groaned again.

"Well… I don't know…he just took me aside and confessed is all…" she said. Mimi and Sora frowned.

"Isn't there anything more?" Mimi said. Skyy blushed lightly.

"He was X too," she said. Mimi and Sora's eyes winded and their mouths dropped open.

"It was Izzy! You mean it wasn't Brayden?" Sora said. Skyy shook her head.

"I asked Brayden earlier and he said he had no idea what I was talking about," she said. Just then she suddenly remembered something. She totally left Brayden alone all night when she said she'd meet up with him again. Oops. She'd have to find him the next day and apologize.

"Really? But, Izzy can't speak English can he?" Mimi asked. Skyy shrugged.

"Apparently he can, he spoke some for me," Skyy said smiling. She now loved hearing him speak English…she'd have to ask him to do it more often. Mimi smiled.

"Really? That's so cute! But like, how did he confess, did he just tell you or what?" Sora asked, seeking more detailed information. Skyy blushed. Mimi leaned in closer with a grin on her face.

"Well, I mean he took me to that top deck thing, above the pool deck, and he just kissed me out of the blue," Skyy said, blushing as she remembered. Mimi squealed.

"Wow! That totally doesn't sound like Izzy! That's awesome!" she said. Sora nodded.

"And then what?" she urged.

"Then he just said that he loved me, and had for a long time, and that's when I figured out he was X," Skyy said.

"Man! This is too cute for **words**! I'm so happy for you Skyy! I mean, you said you've liked him for three years, it seems it's about **time**!" Mimi said hugging Skyy. Skyy smiled and hugged her back.

"Thanks Meems," she said. Sora smiled and hugged her too. Suddenly Mimi let go and straightened up.

"Okay! We all know Skyy doesn't like to be girly for too long so let's get to bed! I'm super tired and we need to get up early tomorrow!" she said dramatically. Sora and Skyy laughed. Though when Skyy thought about it, she felt more girly around Izzy now more than anything else and she definitely didn't mind it.

The girls got their PJs on and quickly got into bed. They needed to get up around 7:00 the next morning so they'd be able to get up, have breakfast, and get off the ship for 8:30. Because of the party the three girls practically passed out as soon as their heads hit the pillow. It still took Skyy a little while longer to fall asleep just because she was still excited and filled with pure happiness because of her newfound relationship. She couldn't help but be too excited for sleep.

But eventually, her sleep overcame her and she drifted off like everyone else. Dreams of Izzy and the party filled her mind.

Alas, their vacation had almost come to an end. This was their last night on the ship, and they'd be flying back to Japan around night time the next day. It was going to be a long day filled with traveling. Skyy was sort of looking forward to it, going home that is. But she knew she'd miss everyone she'd met on the cruise, and all the memories she'd created.

Alaska had been a dream for her. And that dream was soon ending and she'd be back home in her tiny apartment and starting her long days of preparing for college.

She had one more day left though of this vacation. One last day in Seattle tomorrow, so she'd have to make the best of it. Skyy just hoped that when she woke up the next morning her dream from tonight wouldn't have just been a dream.

Day Nine - End


	10. Last Day: Saturday

Digimon Adventure 02 – Summer in Alaska

Day Ten

Skyy's eyes slowly opened as the happy ringtone of Mimi's cell phone filled the stateroom. She heard Mimi's weight shuffle on the bunk bed. Mimi reached over to her cell phone and turned the alarm off.

"Okay guys, its 7:00, time to get up," Mimi said groggily, her voice hoarse from just waking up. Skyy groaned lightly in her head. She squished her face into the covers. Mimi flicked on the side lamp and the tiny stateroom became engulfed in light. Skyy closed her eyes and envisioned what she remembered from the night before. She smiled into her pillow and her heart swelled happily.

Sora sat up in her bed just as Mimi got down from her bed and walked into the bathroom. Skyy heard Sora collapse back into her bed and pull the covers over her, which caused Skyy to laugh lightly. Skyy snuggled back into her covers and waited for Mimi to come out of the bathroom.

The girls didn't talk much that morning because they were soo tired and had stayed up soooo late the night before. Not to mention some of the more hard drinkers, aka Sora and Mimi, had slight hangovers. Skyy was happy now that she didn't drink a lot of alcohol. Sora was last in the shower and just as she came out Skyy was pretty much done getting ready. She stuffed her extra toiletries and clothes into her brown carry-on bag. She had taken out her sketch book and drawing supplies from her bag and put it in her suitcase the night before so she'd have more room for her extra stuff. When she was done checking that everything of hers either had been packed in her suitcase or was in her carry-on bag, she flipped on the TV as she waited for Sora and Mimi to finish getting ready. As she waited the phone to their room rang. She got off her bed with a grunt and went to pick it up.

"Hello?"

"Sup sleepyhead," Tai's voice answered. Skyy raised an eyebrow.

"Sleepyhead? Do I sound sleepy?" she asked. Tai laughed.

"Not really, so it's coming up to 8:00 huh, when are you guys coming up?" he asked. Skyy shrugged even though Tai couldn't actually see her.

"Soon, probably between 5 and 10 minutes? Why?" Skyy asked.

"Well we've been waiting at the buffet for an hour, our room's already all cleared out so we were just waiting for you guys, oh yeah! Brandon, Jeremy, and the girls are all here too, they all wanted to say goodbye before we all left," Tai explained. Skyy nodded.

"Ohh cool, yeah, we'll be up soon, sorry to make you wait," Skyy said. The two friends said goodbye and hung up the phone.

Just as Skyy had predicted Mimi and Sora finished getting ready in the next 10 minutes. They all did a double check of the entire room to make sure they didn't forget to pack anything. Once they were all clear they left the room, the door clicking shut behind them. All of their suitcases were gone as well as all the other passengers' suitcases down the hallway.

Skyy sighed. She probably wouldn't be able to sleep in a stateroom on a magnificent ship ever again. Her family was too poor; they didn't even have a car of their own. Though Skyy was swearing that she'd buy one for herself for college, even if it was a crappy car, she'd get one. Not saying her family was destitute or anything, they had plenty of money, but they had spent most of the money they had been saving for cars on her and her sister's medical bills. Also they had moved to and from Canada and that required a bit of money.

The girls made their way up one floor to the buffet and easily found the large table of teenagers eating breakfast. Skyy's heart beat faster as she thought of seeing Izzy. She laughed lightly to herself.

She had never been this eager to see him before. Though she supposed now that they were officially a couple, it was natural to want to see him even more than usual. Skyy almost sighed when she saw Izzy's crop of maroon hair sitting at the table, but she forced herself not to react all girly by just seeing him.

Tai looked up and saw them coming over at stood up happily.

"Hey girls! How'd you sleep?" he asked. Izzy turned around and blushed lightly, smiling at Skyy. She beamed back at him.

"Agh, don't even mention it! I barely got any sleep at **all**!" Mimi whined. Tai smiled at her.

"Aw, poor baby," he teased, wrapping an arm around her shoulders and kissing her temple as she pouted angrily. Skyy leaned down and lightly kissed Izzy on the cheek. He took her hand in his and entwined their fingers together as she sat down beside him. This action got them a lot of surprised looks from their American friends and Jeremy too. Matt acted like he already knew which meant Tai must have blurted it out the night before or something after they left the girls.

"Hey – did something happen? Since when are you two an item?" Jeremy grinned, nodding towards Skyy and Izzy. He asked in English so that the English speaking friends could understand. Said friends leaned closer, obviously wanting to know the answer as much as Jeremy. Both Skyy and Izzy blushed.

"Um, since last night actually," Izzy said in English. Skyy smiled, she still couldn't get over him speaking English. Jeremy flashed his teeth as he grinned.

"Well! Congratulations then!" he cheered. He leaned over and slapped Izzy over the back, causing him to buckle forward a little. Jeremy also leaned over and gave Skyy a big hug.

"Ha, ha, thanks Jeremy," Skyy said, smiling at him. Sara and Hailey leaned closer with sparkles in their eyes. They both reminded Skyy of Sora and Mimi and so she assumed what was coming.

"Sooo, how did this happen then?" Hailey asked. Skyy's other Japanese speaking friends tuned them out because they all already knew what happened, and didn't understand the conversation anyway. Skyy and Izzy blushed.

"Well I don't know…how do confessions usually go?" Skyy shrugged, not wanting to get into details all over again. Sara rolled her eyes.

"Was it that normal? Come oon, Izzy you tell us what happened," she said, turning to face Izzy. He flinched and turned red, uncomfortable with the sudden attention.

"Uh…well…I don't know, it's…do we have to?" he mumbled. Jeremy grinned.

"Never mind girls, they won't tell us. Must've been dirty then," Jeremy teased. Skyy and Izzy turned beat red. Jeremy laughed loudly. Hailey and Sara backed off though, slouching back in their seats.

"Well anyway, I think you two are super cute together! So congrats!" Hailey said smiling. Skyy thanked her. Izzy blushed lightly, smiling, and thanked her too. Brandon, Naomi and Sara said congrats too.

Soon Skyy, Mimi, and Sora left to get some food then ate happily for the last time with their new friends. Then the intercom came on and started calling down different groups of passengers. The groups ranged from 1-40 and each passenger got a slip to put on their suitcases the night before that had their group number on it. The numbers each started getting called over the intercom starting at 1.

Whilst they waited Skyy saw Brayden walking by with his family. Skyy quickly got up, startling everyone at the table. She called Brayden's name until he heard her and turned around. He smiled widely when he saw her and waltzed over to her.

"Hey Skyy!" he said, hugging her. Skyy hugged him back casually. She instantly felt Izzy's fingers brush her back and she knew he had come up right behind her. Brayden gave Izzy a weird look but returned his attention to Skyy.

"Hey, I thought you were supposed to come back to me last night," he joked. Skyy laughed lightly.

"Yeah, sorry Brayden, but I kinda got sidetracked," she said blushing. She felt Izzy's hand wrap around her waist. Brayden eyed Izzy's hand.

"Yeah, I see that. Anyway, I think I get what went down anyway," he said, looking right at Izzy. Skyy glanced from Izzy to Brayden.

"Oh, well yeah," was all Skyy could mumble.

"So I guess you beat me to it then?" Brayden grinned, looking at Izzy.

"I guess so, no hard feelings?" Izzy asked. Brayden laughed lightly.

"Nah, it seems I wouldn't have had a chance anyway, right Skyy?" Brayden asked. Skyy turned pink.

"Sorry Brayden, but my heart was set," she mumbled, shrugging lightly. Brayden shrugged.

"Oh well, anyway here's my phone number and e-mail, we should at least keep in touch right?" he asked slipping out a piece of paper from his pocket. Skyy smiled and took the paper from him.

"Sure," she said. Brayden grinned.

"Well I'll talk to you later then!" he said happily. He then stooped down and gave Skyy a kiss on the cheek. Skyy flinched and Izzy straightened up.

"wha-! H-hey!" Izzy huffed but Brayden quickly turned back to his family laughing and waving goodbye. Izzy watched him angrily. Skyy smiled lightly and rolled her eyes as she watched Brayden leave. Jeez that guy. Skyy heard their friends laughing lightly at the table behind them; apparently their conversation had been a show for them all. Skyy took Izzy's hand and leaned up to kiss him on the cheek.

"Don't worry about it Iz," she said grinning. Izzy pouted angrily.

"But he…jeez," Izzy sighed. Skyy giggled and led him back over to the table where they sat down. They continued eating as the numbered groups kept getting called over the intercom.

All of Skyy and her friends were in group number 32, so they had a while to wait. As the numbers were all called one by one their friends all left one by one. They all exchanged e-mails and phone numbers before anyone left so they were all able to stay in touch. Hailey was the first to leave for she was group number 5. Then it was Naomi with group number 12. She and Brandon took a while to say good bye and Brandon ended up walking her down to the docking station with her family before coming back up to the buffet. Jeremy was then next with group number 19. Jeremy and Skyy must've hugged a billion times before he finally left with his family. Skyy would surely miss him. Though it wasn't like it was her last time seeing him, when she went to college in Canada later that year she'd be able to go see him.

Soon after Brandon and Sara left with group number 23 and 24. That left only the original six friends waiting at the table for their number to be called. They chatted softly and Skyy tried to take as many pictures as she could. She had taken a huge group picture of them all before anyone had left and she promised to send it to everyone when she got home. Skyy took some more last minute pictures of her friends before group 32 was called. The buffet was nearly empty now with almost all the numbers having been called.

When their number was announced over the intercom the teens made their way with their bags to the loading dock and got their keycards and passports checked before they were let off the boat. Skyy mentally said goodbye to the huge dream boat. She knew she'd miss being on a huge boat like this. She clutched Izzy's hand as they walked down the ramp to the big building they had come through when they were first boarding the ship. Izzy smiled and squeezed her hand.

They made their way through the huge pier building and picked up their luggage from their group station. Once they all confirmed their suitcases they wheeled them out to the pick-up zone. Jut like before there were tones of taxis coming up and trying to get passengers. They ran around comparing prices and finally just picked two taxis with somewhat cheap prices. Skyy, Izzy, Matt, and Sora went in one taxi, whilst Tai and Mimi went in another. They told the drivers where they wanted to go and the two taxis set off for the Weston Hotel in downtown Seattle.

Though they weren't staying the night there, they knew they could at least hold their big suitcases there whilst they went out. It was around 9:30 currently and Mimi's plane left around 7:30 at night. So they still had a long time to kill before leaving to go to the airport.

Once the taxis pulled up to the hotel the teens paid their fare and went in to check in their luggage. Skyy took the opportunity to put away the clothes in her carry-on bag and put them into her suitcase.

After they all mulled over what they wanted to do. Sora mentioned going back to the market place again. Skyy wanted to go back too. Last time they didn't get to actually go in because they didn't have enough time. Everyone then agreed to go to the market place so they headed out of the hotel and walked down to Pike Street.

When they got there it was like déjà-vu. All the same people seemed to be there all the same smells and all the same sights. They made their way past the crowds of people and walked down the street beside the market place. Mimi figured out that the first ever Starbucks café was on this street so they followed her lead.

The Starbucks store was small and squished in-between other stores and cafés. They all walked in and got in line to order something. As she waited Skyy noticed all of the mugs for sale on display on one of the walls. She took a liking to a brown one and decided to buy it for her mother. Her mother had suddenly gotten into collecting café mugs, so Skyy knew she'd love a mug from the first ever Starbucks store. When Skyy ordered her smoothie she bought a mug as well. She was happy because the mug had printed on it that it was from the first Starbucks café.

After they all got their coffees or smoothies they headed out of the shop and crossed the street into the market place.

The market place was full of different kinds of people selling all kinds of merchandise. Skyy was blown away at how multicultural it was. There were people of all different cultures selling flowers and clothes and artworks. There were a lot of food stalls too and some of the guys were drooling over all of the fresh sea food at one stall.

They all bought one thing from the market place except for Skyy who had already bought the mug for her mother. Mimi bought a big tan colored sun hat with pink flowers along the rim. Tai had said it looked super cute on her which was one of the main factors of why she bought it. Sora had bought a small mahogany knitted purse from the same person that sold Mimi her hat. Tai bought a notebook and pen from a book stall for Kari back home. He said it maybe could help her with her job as a camp counselor. Matt bought a Seattle cook book for his little brother T.K. because he said that T.K. had been getting into cooking recently. Izzy didn't know what to buy though. Skyy kept pointing out stuff for him, but he ended up just buying a Seattle keychain. Skyy teased him, calling him a cheap guy.

They walked the length of the market place at least two times. Tai bought some beef jerky from a meat stall and they all shared it as they walked. They passed many art stalls too and Skyy kept getting caught up looking at all the drawings and paintings. There were also professional photos for sale and Skyy got caught up drooling over those too. They were so pretty; she would've loved to decorate her room with some of them. They even had some copies of photographs by Dorthea Lange! Skyy loved her old photos.

Skyy took her camera out several times to take pictures of all the stalls and pictures of her friends. As they walked more though, all the stalls started to look the same. It became repetitive and the six friends got tired of it. They left the market place and walked back down the streets away from the market place.

They stopped off and browsed through the odd clothing store but the prices were all ridiculous and Mimi was the only one willing to actually stay and try things on. She didn't want to burden the others so she refrained from staying in the clothing stores for too long. But Tai did use up most of the rest of his spending money to buy Mimi another present for her birthday. He got her a pretty pink sundress that she had taken a liking to.

They didn't go in many stores but eventually they found themselves back at the hotel with no idea what to do. They were all tired of walking and when they got into the lobby they all eyed the big squishy looking brown couches and chairs scattered here and there. They all collapsed in a couple chairs and a couch all positioned around a coffee table. They went up and checked out their suitcases and rolled them over to the chairs. It was around 3:30 and they still had 4 hours until Mimi's plane was due to leave.

They all slouched in the chairs and Mimi took out her cell phone. She was phoning her parents back in New York to give them an update on what was happening. Tai sat beside her with a slightly sad face, his hand resting on Mimi's leg. It was then Matt took out a deck of cards and started playing some sort of game with Tai. Izzy had taken out is laptop and Sora and Skyy had crowded around him to watch funny videos. Skyy also got her camera cord out of her bag and connected her camera so they could all look at the pictures she had taken. She was nearly out of room on her camera. She had taken about 2000 photos and had about less than 100 left on the memory card. She'd have to go through them all and delete the ones that she didn't want.

After they looked through most of the photos, Sora had gotten bored and turned to play cards with Tai and Matt. Skyy had gotten a little sleepy from looking at the computer screen for so long so she leaned down her head on Izzy's lap and closed her eyes. She smiled lightly when she felt Izzy start to play with her hair. He had his laptop beside him on the couch and was still clicking through the rest of the pictures.

"Hey Skyy?" he asked softly. Skyy felt that she was about to drift to sleep but Izzy's voice kept her awake.

"Hm?"

"These pictures are really good," Izzy said. Skyy cracked open an eye.

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"I mean, these look really nice, they almost have a professional calibre. I speculate if you improved a bit, people would buy your photos," Izzy said. Skyy glanced at the screen.

"I was just trying to get pretty shots..." she mumbled. It was true she didn't like just snapping shots of things; she always tried making the pictures more interesting by using different photography techniques. But no one had ever actually complemented them before, she just wanted pretty pictures.

"Well, I strongly recommend you take advanced photography courses when you return to school, besides, I saw you drooling over those old photographs for sale, you seemed more interested in those than the paintings…you should think about photography a little more," Izzy said smiling. Skyy smiled lightly.

"Maybe..." she mumbled. She'd never really thought about photography as a hobby. She just did it to create memories. She thought about it more as Izzy kept browsing through the pictures. She liked taking pictures…and if a photographer was good, they made a lot of money. Also Skyy did like the idea of learning how to develop films in dark rooms and using film cameras. She thought it was a neat process.

Skyy mostly just liked to paint, but she decided she might like to try expanding into different types of art. Hey, she'd been painting and sketching her whole life. Maybe it was time for her to try something new. Professional photography could be fun.

Skyy watched her pictures appear on Izzy's laptop screen. His fingers still lazily played with her hair and Skyy started feeling that sleepiness from before return. Tai and Matt's soft talking from their card game and the clicking of Izzy's laptop was all she heard. She blocked out the sounds of the busying hotel guests wandering around the lobby.

Skyy eventually drifted into a light sleep and was awaked what she felt like was at least an hour later. Her head was still on Izzy's lap but he was no longer looking at pictures on his laptop. Skyy quickly sat up and shifted her weight off of Izzy. He shifted as well as she moved. He had been talking to Tai beside him. Skyy sat up and checked her watch. They had about 2 hours till Mimi's plane left.

They were all still lounging around, some sleeping, basically trying to waste time as much as possible. It was until Sora had come back from the bathroom that she recommended sitting and having some food at the small café beside the lobby. Skyy perked up at the sound of food and so did her friends. They all got up from the comfy seats and stretched their sore limbs. They grabbed all of their luggage and rolled it over to the café Sora had pointed out.

The café was called the Coldwater café. It was decked out with blue lights and furniture. They had a lot of sandwiches and cakes on display and Skyy could feel her stomach rumbling. The teens found the biggest table they could, sliding a smaller one up beside it to fit the extra people. They all ordered some coffee each; Skyy got a cold one because she didn't like normal coffee. A couple of them also got little sandwiches to eat. Skyy shared one with Izzy, though she ended up eating most of it. They all chatted and eventually as they finished their sandwiches ordered the odd cake as well. Izzy got a vanilla one for himself and Skyy. They both couldn't finish it and Tai ended up eating the rest of it because he didn't get a cake.

They wasted another hour in the café and soon decided it was time to get a taxi and head to the airport. Tai wanted to stay a little longer saying there was no need to leave yet. Skyy could tell he was only trying to prolong Mimi leaving. She felt sad for her friend, knowing he would have to say goodbye to his precious Mimi soon. They all finished up their food and packed away what they could finish and would save for later. They rolled all of their bags outside and quickly got two taxis. Tai and Mimi went in one cab with Skyy and Izzy and Matt and Sora went in another cab. The ride to the airport seemed long and Skyy saw Tai and Mimi's fingers always interlaced the entire time. Izzy was gracious and sat in the front, letting Tai and Mimi be a little bit closer. Skyy mentally wished, for her best friends' sake, the time from now till Mimi's flight would take a very long time.

Skyy was also going to miss Mimi, and would definitely have to make sure she kept better contact with the light brunette haired girl. The air in the cab was depressing so Skyy tried to keep a conversation going as much as she could. Mimi and Tai seemed distant though and only Izzy was trying to help Skyy with her efforts. Soon before they reached the airport Skyy gave up talking and the rest of the ride became silent.

When they arrived at the airport Mimi went up to get her tickets to go back to New York. The others went in a different line to get their tickets back to Japan. They got their big suitcases checked as well and they were all taken away to their respectful gates. The teens met up again after and followed Mimi to her gate because she'd be leaving first. They all sat down where they could in the gate and sadly waited for the intercom to come on and announce the boarding of Mimi's plane.

At one point Mimi and Tai disappeared for a little while. Nobody said anything because they all sort of knew they were saying goodbye privately. When they came back Mimi looked like she had been crying and she was clutching Tai's hand. The rest of the friends tried to keep the mood light but it worked out as well as Skyy's attempt was in the taxi cab.

When the announcement finally rang out everyone got up and started showering Mimi with hugs. Skyy hugged her for at least a solid minute before letting go and saying goodbye. Tai hugged her for even longer and refused to let go for a little while. He was whispering stuff in her ear and kissing her lightly. She was whispering back before they finally let go of each other and she walked over to the gate entrance. She waved goodbye and blew a kiss to Tai before finally getting her ticket checked and disappearing down the walkway.

Skyy's heart wrenched as she saw her friend leave and was too afraid to look at Tai's face as Mimi walked away. They all sighed sadly and turned to leave the gate. Sora and Skyy have Tai quick reassuring hugs and Izzy and Matt slapped him lightly over the back…the guy version of a reassuring hug.

On their way to their gate they passed a couple of stores. Skyy stopped when she saw one store. Izzy noticed her stop walking at looked back to her.

"Skyy? What's the matter?" he asked. Skyy cocked her head to the side.

"That store looks cool, can we go in for a bit?" she asked. The other three friends turned around, hearing her question. Matt glanced at his watch.

"Well, we have three hours left before our plane leaves, we can afford to waste some time," he said. Sora and Tai nodded in agreement and Skyy smiled happily. They all went into the store and Skyy wandered every which way. It was an odd store with a bunch of random things for sale. They had lava lamps, notebook supplies, artefacts, prank supplies, tiny decorations like lamps and fake plants, and other odd things. They also had a small display of music boxes. Skyy looked at them all. She saw a pretty white, wooden one with blue carvings in it. The carvings were of clouds and birds in the sky. She opened the box and there was a small dancing fairy that spun around to a tune. The inside of the box was all covered with light blue silk and there was a small round mirror with small curvy carvings around the edges placed behind the dancing fairy.

Skyy ran her fingers over all the little surfaces of the music box and over the outside. She smiled lightly at the softness of the silk. Suddenly Tai snapped her out of her thoughts when he giddily came running up to her with a couple cans of silly string.

"Hey, hey! Can you buy me some of these? I spent all of my money already," he said. Skyy raised an eyebrow.

"Why? So you can attack me with those when we get home?" she asked. Tai grinned widely.

"You, and my sister," he said evilly. Skyy rolled her eyes.

"If they make you that happy, how much are they?" Skyy said giving in. He finally seemed to be cheering up so she decided to buy him something. Tai told her the price and Skyy went over to the cashier with him to buy three cans. When she finished paying Tai happily took his present and thanked Skyy. He skipped away to show off his new prizes. Skyy smiled softly as she watched him. Just then she felt two arms curl around her waist and her smile became wider.

"Hey Iz," she said turning her head to see him. Izzy grinned and rested his chin on her shoulder.

"Buying him something to keep him elated?" Izzy teased. Skyy grinned.

"Yeah, he deserves a little present I think," Skyy said. Izzy chuckled.

"Hey, why won't you purchase anything for me to keep me pleased?" Izzy joked, pouting slightly. Skyy raised and eyebrow. She kissed him on the nose and his pout disappeared.

"Because I only need to do that to keep you happy, you're a cheap boyfriend," Skyy teased. Izzy pretended he was shot with an arrow to the chest.

"Aw, jeez, ouch…that hurts," he teased. Skyy smiled and turned around to kiss him on the lips. He smiled against her and kissed her back, sighing lightly when they parted.

"Well, I guess maybe I am," he winked at her and Skyy laughed lightly.

They wandered around the store for a little longer, checking out all the silly toys and trinkets for sale. Soon though the five of them left and looked for a new store to go in. they passed the food court and started feeling sick from the smell of food. The sandwiches and cakes from earlier was enough food to keep them full for awhile so the smell of more food just made them all feel unwell. They found a big Barnes and Nobles book store and decided to go in. they all spread out and Skyy was surprised to find the manga section rather quickly she grinned and picked out a few books to browse. She curled up on the floor with her back to the bookcase and her small stack of manga beside her. Izzy and Tai soon found her and decided to help her block the isle by sitting down on the floor as well. Izzy was resting his head on Skyy's shoulder and was flipping through a science magazine. Tai tried reading the manga with Skyy but gave up and just looked at the pictures because he couldn't read the English translations. Sora and Matt were off somewhere else and they were too lazy to go find them.

Skyy didn't know how much time passed whilst they were in there and didn't bother checking. All she knew was that Izzy had gone through three magazines and Sora had come to find Skyy so she could buy them all coffees from the Starbucks a while ago. It wasn't until Skyy noticed the darkness outside the windows of the store that she snapped back to reality. The sun had gone down and it was now night time. She looked around at her friends and sitting around her in the manga isle. Matt and Sora had stayed with them after buying the coffees.

"Hey, what time is it?" Skyy asked. Matt glanced up to her before looking at his watch.

"Um, almost 10:00, our flight is in half an hour," Matt said closing his book lightly. Suddenly Sora's head snapped up.

"Oh my gosh do you know what I just realized?" she said. Skyy looked over at her.

"What?"

"Of **course** it wasn't Brayden who had sent those notes! I mean he should have never even been an option!" Sora said. Skyy almost laughed. This topic was coming up again. Izzy's face turned red and Tai and Matt gave the girls confused looks.

"And whys that?" Skyy asked.

"Because! Your name was always written on the front of the notes, when Brayden first approached you he didn't know your name! He had to ask, remember?" Sora said matter of factly. Skyy's eyes widened.

"Oh yeaaaahhh! I totally forgot about that! woow we're dumb," Skyy laughed.

"Umm, mind if I ask what you're talking about?" Tai asked. Skyy and Sora grinned and spoke at the same time.

"Ask Izzy."

Izzy turned even redder as Matt and Tai's attention turned to him.

"Uhh, it's not really important..." he said and quickly pretended to go back to reading his magazine.

"Fine, but you're telling us when we get home," Tai said. Izzy tried ignoring him. Skyy laughed.

"Anyway, before Sora's random outburst, do you guys wanna go make camp at the gate if we only have half an hour?" Skyy asked. They all shrugged.

"I don't care, I can't read any of these books anyway so I'm bored as hell, may as well go," Tai said. Sora and Matt agreed. So, with that they put all the books and magazines away and collected their carry-on bags. They wandered over to their gate and when they got there they had about 25 minute left to wait and luckily found a large section of empty seats to sit at. They mostly just chatted- listened to music, or played cards to waste the last remaining minutes. When the announcement rang out for boarding they all stood up and got into line. When they were approved they walked down the ramp and into the plane. They found their seats quickly and plopped down. It was 10:30 and Skyy had felt incredibly lazy, the whole day they had mostly just been waiting around, and trying to waste time. Tai was supposed to sit with Skyy and Izzy again but because Matt and Sora had an empty seat next to them this time, he sat with them, leaving Izzy and Skyy alone. Skyy saw Tai flip out is cell phone and start texting. She knew he was talking to Mimi because her plane had already landed and she was probably already at home. Skyy sighed, they had a tiring flight ahead of them. 13 hours was a long time.

When the plane finally took off Skyy snuggled next to Izzy, not really because she was tired but just snuggling for the sake of snuggling. When the plane got in the air and the movement became smooth Izzy leaned his head on hers and broke the silence.

"To be honest, that wasn't the real reason why I confessed to you suddenly," Izzy said softly. Skyy looked up at him without moving her head.

"Hm?"

"When I said it was because I wanted to do it before Brayden did, that's not the whole truth," he said.

"Then why'd you do it?"

"At first, if you didn't figure out it was me in the notes, I was just going to forget about it and figure something out later when I had more courage. But when I saw that he'd taken your first kiss, I just got really jealous. I didn't want him or anyone else for that matter taking away anymore firsts of yours, so I decided to just do it and confess," Izzy explained lightly. Skyy smiled.

"What kind of firsts do you mean?" she asked. She felt Izzy shift slightly. He was probably blushing.

"Uh, well, there was the first kiss, first date, first boyfriend…uhh…f-first make-out—" Izzy said getting more embarrassed. Skyy giggled

"Sorry but I've already had those firsts," Skyy said bluntly. Izzy lifted his head in shock to look at her.

"W-what! Y-y-y-you've-v-v…" he stuttered. Skyy chuckled.

"My first kiss was Brayden, my first boyfriend was Jeremy, my first date was Jeremy, buut, the other stuff I haven't done yet, I was gonna save that for you," Skyy smiled slyly and kissed Izzy on the nose. Izzy turned bright red and his mouth snapped shut. He was too embarrassed to even comment on the Jeremy thing.

"Just forget it Iz," Skyy said grinning and rolling her eyes. She snuggled her head back into Izzy's shoulder and he hesitated before she shyly rested his back into its position on Skyy's head.

After a while of trying to go to sleep and failing Skyy took out her camera and flipped through the pictures again. It wasn't until she came up the Rumba lesson pictures did she raise her eyebrows in surprise.

"Hey Iz...is it me or are all these pictures of just me?" Skyy asked, her mouth twisting into a grin. Izzy glanced down at the pictures and blushed.

"Oh uh…sorry, I couldn't help it," he mumbled. Skyy laughed lightly.

"So thaaats why you didn't want me to look at the pictures right after the lesson," Skyy said. Izzy shrugged sheepishly. Skyy snuggled back against him and kept looking at the pictures. Soon she got bored though and when she felt Izzy had fallen asleep against her she put the camera away and closed her eyes. She fell asleep against his shoulder and they stayed like that for the rest of the flight.

When there was about an hour left of the flight Skyy woke up, her movement causing Izzy to wake up too. They were both stiff from sitting up for so long and couldn't fall back asleep. They chatted and ate some plane snacks, went to the bathroom and watched the clouds pass by out the window. Skyy felt better when she felt the plane start to lower. The captain announced their arrival to Tokyo and when the plane broke through the clouds and Skyy saw her busy city down below she cracked a wide smile. She was back home back in Japan. Somehow she was happier to be home than she thought she'd be. When the plane landed in Tokyo airport the five teens waited to be let off the plane then finally sludged off with their bags. They got their suitcases quickly at the baggage claim and headed for the car pick up. Sora, Matt, Izzy and Tai were on the phones with their parents asking to be picked up. Sora's mom came within five minutes and she left with Matt. The three left-overs waited outside on a bench. Tai snapped his phone shut and bit his lip.

"Umm, Skyy?" he said. Skyy looked up at him tiredly.

"Hm?"

"I might not be able to drop you off at home, you see my mom is taking us to my aunts house as soon as she picks me up, and it's in the opposite direction of the apartment," Tai said. Skyy frowned.

"Oh…" she mumbled. Izzy then sat up.

"I can ask my mom to drop her off, your apartment building is close to mine anyway," Izzy said shrugging. Skyy and Tai smiled in relief.

"Oh good, thanks Iz," Tai said and slouched back into the bench.

"Thanks," Skyy said. Izzy smiled at her.

"No problem," he muttered as he took out his cell phone. Tai's mom got there within five minutes and Skyy and Izzy said goodbye as he drove off with his family. Skyy had said a quick hello to Kari through the car window for she was sitting in the back seat. Skyy sort of missed the light brunette haired girl. Even though it had only been a week it felt like it had been a long time. Maybe it was because so much happened. Skyy waited with her fingers interlaced with Izzy's as his mom drove up shortly after Tai left. Izzy's mom eyed their interlocked hands and how Izzy was graciously offering to move all of Skyy's luggage into the car for her. She huddled up to him before he got in the car.

"Oh my, did something happen with you and Skyy whilst you were away?" she asked. Skyy smiled as she heard her from inside the car. Izzy blushed.

"Yes, and we'll talk about it **later** okay mom?" he said, embarrassed. Is mom giggled and rushed into the driver's seat and Izzy sat in the back with Skyy.

The ride home was short. Skyy and Izzy mostly just chatted softly in the back seat whilst Izzy's mom watched them "secretly" from the review mirror and hummed happily along with the radio.

When they reached Skyy's apartment complex Izzy helped get Skyy's suitcase out of the car. Izzy took out his backpack which caught Skyy's curiosity. They walked over and stood outside of the building entrance in silence before Izzy finally leaned in and gave Skyy a kiss on the cheek. They both burst into a quiet laughter when they heard Izzy's mom's audible squeal from the car.

"C'mon, walk me up?" Skyy offered, Izzy smiled and took her hand in his. He walked her up to her apartment and stopped just before she was about to go in. He reached behind and set his backpack on the ground and zipped it open. Skyy watched him curiously.

"What are you doing?" she asked. Izzy grinned widely.

"I got you something," he said. Skyy rose an eyebrow.

"You got me a present? When?" she asked. She could've sworn she never saw him buy anything. Izzy laughed lightly and took out a bag with a large, heavy looking object in it.

"At the airport, when you weren't looking," Izzy gave her a sly smile. He held out the bag to her and Skyy took it.

"Oh wow," she said and she took the object out of the box. She gasped when she saw what it was. White with blue carvings, it was the music box she had been admiring in that store. She looked up at Izzy and opened her mouth to speak but nothing came out. Izzy smiled wider.

"You like it? I got two other songs to go with it," he said pointing to the bag. Skyy looked down and quickly rummaged out the two music box pieces. She looked at the labels. The songs were 'Here Comes the Sun' and 'If Only I had a Brain'.

"Both songs suited you well so I got both," Izzy grinned. Skyy looked at the names of the songs again.

"Heeyyy! I DO have a brain!" she said frowning. Izzy laughed.

"It was a joke!" he said. Skyy shrugged though and smiled. She wrapped her arms around Izzy and squeezed him tightly.

"Thank you sooooo much! I **love** it! I'm totally taking back what I said about you being cheap!" Skyy said. Izzy chuckled and nuzzled his face into her neck. They pulled apart and Izzy gave her a quick kiss.

"Well, I should get going now," Izzy said. Skyy nodded. He gave her another lingering kiss and Skyy almost protested when he broke away.

"I promise a first date really soon okay?" Izzy said. Skyy laughed lightly and kissed him again, Izzy wrapped his arms around her waste, bringing her closer. They broke apart after a while and Skyy grinned.

"You better," she winked and he chuckled. Izzy finally let her go and walked back down to the staircase. Skyy sighed and fished for her house key. Once she got it out she opened to door to her house and hobbled in with her suitcase. She slipped off her shoes when the door clicked shut behind her.

"Mom, Dad, I'm hooome!"

Digimon Adventure 02 – Summer in Alaska: End


End file.
